Mukasey nomination clears hurdle
A Senate panel approves Bush's pick for attorney general. Two Democrats join Republicans in supporting the former federal judge.
Los Angeles Times | November 6, 2007
By Johanna Neuman
The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the nomination of Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general, all but assuring his approval by the full Senate.
The 11-8 vote saw two key Democrats, Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York, join the committee's Republicans in supporting the nomination. When Feinstein spoke her "aye" vote, a protester yelled from the back of the room, "No!"
Many Democrats, who once praised the 66-year-old former federal judge as a nonpolitical successor to Alberto R. Gonzales, deserted his nomination after a disagreement about torture.
Mukasey refused to categorize an interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, as torture. He said he would have to review security documents in order to make that determination. But he described the technique as "repugnant," and said he would support legislation to outlaw it.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he could no longer support the nomination because "this is an administration that has been acting outside the law." As for the judge's pledge to join opponents in seeking to outlaw waterboarding, Leahy said, "Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of this president."
Feinstein noted that President Bush had said he would not make another nomination for the post, forcing the Justice Department to run with an acting attorney general for the rest of his presidency.
"I don't believe a leaderless department is in the best interests of the American people," she said, adding that apart from the waterboarding dispute, Mukasey had demonstrated a nonpartisan approach to the Justice Department. "I think he will be an independent breath of fresh air for this department."
Bush defended Mukasey last week, saying that announcing a legal opinion on waterboarding would "give the terrorists a window into which techniques we may use and which ones we may not use."
After the committee's vote, the White House issued a statement saying it appreciated the support and predicting that Mukasey would be "an exceptional attorney general at this critical time."
Schumer recommended fellow New Yorker Mukasey to the White House after accusing Gonzales of firing U.S. attorneys who did not support the Bush administration's agenda. He defended his vote, saying the Justice Department, "once the crown jewel among our government institutions, is now adrift and rudderless" and in need of Mukasey's leadership.
