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Bush Announces AG Nominee

By Jordan Deckenbach

Former Federal Judge Michael Mukasey has been tapped by President Bush to replace outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Judge Mukasey is a former prosecutor who recently retired after serving 19 years on the federal bench in the Southern District of New York.

Judge Mukasey?s nomination for the position has so far been met by praise from both sides of the aisle in Washington. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has on a number of occasions stated his favorable opinion of Judge Mukasey, both in a June 2003 letter to President Bush suggesting Mukasey as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court, as well as in March of 2006 during an interview with Meet the Press when discussing potential nominees to replace Gonzales in the event he resigned. Sen. Schumer?s influential position on the Senate Judiciary Committee could be paramount in making sure the confirmation process goes smoothly for the nominee.

Mukasey is widely respected in the legal community as someone who is committed to the rule of law over ideologies and partisan positions. Political and legal observers will be keen to pay attention to this commitment as Mukasey?s past decisions in the terror prosecutions of the Blind Sheik and Jose Padilla have partially run contrary to the opinions of the Department of Justice, specifically his ruling in favor Jose Padilla?s right to access his attorney during trial. However, Mukasey has also voiced his support for the legal theory that Bush?s commander-in-chief powers inherently allows him to arrest and hold American citizens if he deems them to be an enemy combatant (including those arrested on U.S. soil). This legal opinion was adopted by the 2^nd District Court and remains standing after the Supreme Court did not address the issue upon appeal.

In a recent essay in the Wall Street Journal, Mukasey pronounces that the Padilla case

?shows why current institutions and statutes are not well suited to even the limited task of supplementing what became, after Sept. 11, 2001, principally a military effort to combat Islamic terrorism.?

Mukasey goes on to suggest that alternative venues and procedures need to be created by Congress to process future terrorist cases. For Mukasey, an alternative process would help ensure national intelligence is not compromised and that accused terrorists are not provided with the procedural rights offered in the Federal Courts.

If confirmed, Mukasey offers the Bush Administration a new strategy in pursuing terrorist convictions which says that it is more beneficial to change the law instead of break the law. However, his proposed changes are cause for concern for those who believe military tribunals and special courts for U.S. citizens without the Constitutional protections afforded in the Federal Courts is an assault on America's fundamental ideas of liberty and due process.

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Full post as published by The Law and Politics Blog on September 17, 2007 (boomark / email).