Mukasey Shocks the Conscience of Joe Biden

Is torture okay and under what circumstances? USAG Mukasey seems to be okay with it:

"There is a statute under which it [torture] is a relative issue. I think the Detainee Treatment Act engages the standard under the Constitution which is a shocks-the-conscience standard, which is essentially a balancing test of the value of doing something as against the cost of doing it."

Joe Biden thinks differently: "I didn't think shocking the conscience had any relationship to the end being sought. I thought shocking the conscience had to do with what we consider to be basic societal values, things that we held dear, what we consider to be civilized behavior.

You're the first person I've ever heard say what you just said."

Mukasey In: Bring It On (WaterboardingThat Is)

Michael Mukasey was approved by a margin of 53 to 40 with Democrats Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Evan Bayh, Tom Carper, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson casting "yea" votes and Presidential candidates John McCain, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton not voting presumably because they were on the rubber chicken circuit.

As a comparison, Alberto Gonzales was approved on a 60-36 vote -- the smallest margin of victory for any Bush appointee up to this point

The AP reports

The Senate confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night to replace Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office in a scandal over his handling of the Justice Department.

President Bush thanked the Senate, even though the margin had been whittled down from nearly unanimous by a sharp debate over Mukasey's refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.

"He will be an outstanding attorney general," Bush said in a statement from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Republicans were solidly behind Bush' nominee. Democrats said their votes were not so much for Mukasey as they were for restoring a leader to a Justice Department left adrift after Gonzales' resignation in September.

In the end, Mukasey was confirmed as the nation's 81st attorney general by a 53-40 vote. Six Democrats and one independent joined Republicans in sealing his confirmation.

The choice, according to one of those Democrats, was essentially between "whether to confirm Michael Mukasey as the next attorney general or whether to leave the Department of Justice without a real leader for the next 14 months," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

"This is the only chance we have," she said, referring to Bush's threat to appoint an acting attorney general not subject to Senate confirmation.

But members of her own party didn't agree. Mukasey, his opponents argued, refused to say whether waterboarding is torture and put the onus on Congress to pass a law against the practice.

"This is like saying when somebody murders somebody with a a baseball bat and you say, 'We had a law against murder but we never mentioned baseball bats,'" said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "Murder is murder. Torture is torture."

Being better than Gonzales or an acting attorney general is not enough qualification for the job, said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

The next attorney general must restore confidence in the rule of law," he said. "We cannot afford to take the judgment of an attorney general who either does not know torture when he sees it or is willing to look the other way."

The confirmation vote capped 10 months of scandal and resignations at the Justice Department. Mukasey's chief Democratic patron, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., drove the probe into the purge of nine federal prosecutors that helped push Gonzales out.

The debate came after a tense day of negotiations that at one point featured Majority Leader Harry Reid threatening to postpone Mukasey's confirmation until December. His confirmation had long been certainty despite the debate over waterboarding.

Specter to Vote for Mukasey, But Reminds Us of Congress' Job...

Senator Arlen Specter, minority Leader on the Judicial Committee said he believed "Judge Mukasey went about as far as he could go" in stating his views [about waterboarding]because a more categorical answer that waterboarding was illegal could open a wave of lawsuits against administration officials.

"It is very important, in the national interest, that we have a strong attorney general. So I would have liked better assurances," Specter said. "And I think Congress ought to take a firm stand on waterboarding."

Okay Congress, time to get cracking on the anti-torture bill. Oh, and you might want to take a meeting with these folks before you vote on Mukasey.

The "Other" Charles & Di: The Romance Fizzles

Okay, I'm not a great fan of California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but I usually am okay with NY's Sen. Charles Schumer--but no more, after this pitiful decision!



"Feinstein and Schumer said in written statements that, while they were troubled by Mukasey's equivocation, they concluded the former federal judge is the best nominee Democrats could expect from the Bush administration."

According to the Washington Post

The nomination fight over attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey effectively came to an end yesterday, as two key Senate Democrats parted from their colleagues and announced their support for the former judge despite his controversial statements on torture.

The orchestrated announcements by Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) virtually guarantee that Mukasey will be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, to be followed by his likely confirmation in the full Senate later in the month.

The developments mark an important political victory for President Bush, who mounted a spirited and aggressive defense of Mukasey in recent days. They also underscore the pitfalls facing Democrats as the party struggles to stake out an independent policy on national security issues during a presidential campaign season.

Mukasey's Future Murkier

How's the confirmation vote For AG-designate Michael Mukasey looking? Talking Points Memo reports so far that nine senators are walking away from Mukasey.

Edwards, Clinton, Obama: No to Mukasey

Reuters reports that the top 3 Democrtic candidates all do not support the nomination of Michael Mukasey for US Attorney General because of his nuanced stance on waterboarding as torture.

The three leading Democratic White House contenders on Tuesday opposed President George W. Bush's nomination of Michael Mukasey to be attorney general, citing concerns about how the retired judge views torture.

Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, along with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, said they were troubled by Mukasey's refusal to denounce as torture an internationally criticized interrogation method known as waterboarding, simulated drowning.
Critics have accused the United States of torturing suspects in the war on terrorism, with the CIA reportedly using waterboarding shortly after the September 11 attacks.

Despite Bush's assurances that he prohibits torture, it's unclear how detainees are treated since he has refused to disclose interrogation techniques.

Clinton, Obama and Edwards, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination in the November, 2008 election, also said they were concerned about what they characterized as Mukasey's excessively expansive view of presidential powers.

The retired federal judge and former U.S. prosecutor from New York may still likely be confirmed as attorney general by the 100-member, Democratic-led Senate, party aides said.

Mukasey Wolf in Sheepish Clothing?

Everyone was having big love for Bush Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey hanging on his every word as he disagreed with the former AG's "torture" memo. But then, Oh! No You Di'nt...from the Washington Post

Attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey suggested today that the president could ignore federal surveillance law if it infringes on his constitutional authority as commander in chief.

Under sharp questioning about the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, Mukasey said there may be occasions when the president's wartime powers would supersede legal requirements to obtain a warrant to conduct wiretaps.

In such a case, Mukasey said, "the president is not putting somebody above the law; the president is putting somebody within the law. . . . The president doesn't stand above the law. But the law emphatically includes the Constitution."

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was "troubled by your answer. I see a loophole big enough to drive a truck through."

My Name is Muka(sey)

Remember when the selection of Alberto Gonzales was seen as a step toward government diversity? Boy, did it hurt to find out that he wasn't really qualified for the job. But now there is a new nominee in town and his name is Mike Mukasey (forgive that his monogram is the same as Marilyn Manson, Marilyn Monroe or Mickey Mouse).

The Who once said, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"... we want to avoid another fiasco in the AG position by knowing more about the "new boss."

We know he and Rudy Guiliani are best friends, so there's that. Beyond the fact that he is pro-PATRIOT Act, but also made a legal judgment that said enemy combatants should actually have access to lawyers, and that the Blind Sheik and his pals should have a life sentence for the first attack of the WTC.

The Whitehouse Raves: Michael Mukasey, a strong Attorney General

Then there's the always conservative WSJ (well actually the law blog: Seven Things to Know About Michael Mukasey:

But the US News and World Report has 3 more things you gotsta know.

Here's the thing, he's from New York and people like to think of even conservatives from New York as being reasonable.

So as long as the Dem leadership doesn't mind and the Reps don't mind--it looks like we will have a Muka Mike as the AG--I wonder where he stands on prosecuting former AGs...