The President has nominated Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales at Attorney General and the political in-fighting has begun ... but opposition to this appointment is coming from the right, not the left as is common.
A little background on Michael Mukasey first. He was nominated by President Reagan as a federal judge in 1987. Since that time he has served for 18 years (including 6 years as Chief Judge of the Southern District of New York). Among his cases that you may be familiar with are the trials of Omar Abdul Rahman (the blind shiek) and El Sayid Nosair. These terrorists were convicted for their parts in the planning of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plots to bomb the United Nations and other New York landmarks. Judge Mukasey sentanced them to life in prison. He also ruled in the case of Jose Padilla (the American gang-banger that turned al-Qaeda) and ruled that he could be held as an enemy combatant, but that he must be given access to his lawyer. Mukasey also spoke and wrote in defense of the Patriot Act.
Here is what might be turning Republicans against him. In 2003, Sen Chuck Schummer (D-NY) included him in a list of 5 other judges that would have no problems being confirmed by Democrats. Rep Schummer also suggested him as a replacement for Gonzales on "Meet The Press" back in March. I think that Republican opposition to Mukasey is probably just a knee-jerk reaction to Shummer's support. Shummer has been a thorn in the GOP's side for so long that the thinking is probably if Chuck likes him, it must be bad.
From what I can see from the research I have done is that Michael Mukasey was a law and order type judge that issued his verdicts fairly and with common sense. We could do a lot worse than having Judge Mukasey as our 81st Attorney General (we already have).
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13 comments:
Good pick
Afer the Alberto Gonzales' fiasco this man is looking good for the post of Attorney General. This man is respected by both sides of the isle. I do not pay attention to the RWW radio and television talk show hosts. Easy pick. Just make it official, and move on. Have a fine Texas evening.
cfs
I's say he's a pretty good choice.
Lets see how far he gets.
tlrb ... I have just one thing to say about Alberto Gonzales ... he was a lot better than Janet Reno.
dd2 ... I hope he gets confirmed. It's not everyday when a nominee is acknowledged to be qualified by both sides of the political spectrum.
Like you, from what I hear, he sounds like a good guy. Why Schummer would support him, I have no idea. Even a broken clock can be right twice a day.
debbie ... I just love your little sayings. But Schummer has at times really pissed me off.
Paul
In ref to Janet Reno - Correcto. Things could be real bad - we could get another Janet Reno or another Ed Meese ... talking about a dynamic duo! Have a fine Texas evening.
cfs
Hi Paul. I didn't know who Michael Mukasey was. Thanks for the info.
guess we will have to wait and see .........lets be hopeful!
well i am neither dmeocrat nor republican btu if he defended the patriot act i don't want him. that piece of legislation is a travesty.
good grief, i was clearly not awake enough to proofreed that comment when i left it. sorry about that.
tlrb ... I had forgotten about the travesty that was Ed Meese.
terry ... your welcome (I didn't know either till I did my research).
woman ... we shall indeed see. Seems that conservative reaction to him stems from a case on a Chinese man who he ordered back to China. The man was afraid he would be punished because he had more than one child (didn't get his wife an abortion). Unfortunately, the law was pretty specific on his deportation (his case had already failed in immigration court that had jurisdiction). He could have done as Democrats have long done and legislated from the bench ... but he chose to uphold the law.
lime ... though the Patriot Act is flawed, there is a lot of important provisions in it that keep us safer. It rankles every libertarian nerve in my body ... but if I were in Congress, I probably would have held my nose and voted for it too. Looks like I'm not the only one since it got passed and then extended.
I had never heard of him..
thanks for the update.
terri ... you're welcome.
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