Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., November 07, 2007 Cheshvan 26, 5768 | | Israel Time: 00:51 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Print Edition
Diplomacy
Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising
Magazine Week's End Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Books Travel
Michael Mukasey smiles while testifying Oct. 17 before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington. (AP)
del.icio.us
Digg It!  new
Last update - 11:27 07/11/2007
Mukasey one step closer to becoming second Jewish AG in U.S. history
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
tags: U.S., Jewish World 

Michael Mukasey is one step closer to becoming only the second Jewish attorney general in United States history, after the Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to advance his nomination to the Senate floor.

The decision virtually ensured his confirmation before the end of the month.

Mukasey has been ensnarled in bitter controversy over waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique used in interrogations. The 11-8 vote came after two key Democrats accepted his vow to enforce any law Congress might enact against the method.
Advertisement
Mukasey, a 66-year-old retired federal judge and Modern-Orthodox Jew from New York, graduated from Columbia University in 1963. He later received a degree in law from Yale. If his nomination is approved, Mukasey will become the second Jew in U.S. history to preside as attorney general.

The first Jewish U.S. attorney general, Edward Hirsch Levi, was appointed to the post is 1975, with the task of restoring the federal justice department's greatly diminished status following the Watergate affair.

Mukasey was appointed to the bench in 1987 by the late Republican president Ronald Reagan. He retired last year and opened a private law firm.

The nomination of Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as the chief U.S. law enforcement official now goes to the Senate floor where a vote is expected before the end of the month.

Gonzales resigned two months ago in the midst of congressional investigation over his handling of the dismissal of eight U.S. prosecutors. Democrats said the firings were politically motivated. The dispute mushroomed into doubts about the credibility of Gonzales, a longtime friend and adviser to President George W. Bush.

Mukasey's nomination represents a victory for Bush as he heads into his last 14 months in office with a dismal showing in opinion polls over his handling of the Iraq war and other issues.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, who suggested Mukasey to the White House in the first place, countered that the nominee's statements against waterboarding and for purging politics from the Justice Department amount to the best deal Democrats could get from the Bush administration.

"If we block Judge Mukasey's nomination and then learn in six months that waterboarding has continued unabated, that victory will seem much less valuable," he wrote in an op-ed in Tuesday's editions of The New York Times.

However, the Democratic committee chairman, Patrick Leahy called Mukasey's promise disingenuous. "Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of this president," said Leahy.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, said her vote for Muksaey's confirmation came down in part to practicality. "If Mukasey's nomination were killed," she said, "Bush would install an acting attorney general not subject to Senate confirmation and make recess appointments to fill nearly a dozen other empty jobs at the top of Justice."

"I don't believe a leaderless department is in the best interests of the American people or of the department itself," Feinstein said. Bush, she added, "appointed this man because he believes he is mainstream."

Support for Mukasey from Schumer and Feinstein virtually assured the former federal judge the majority vote he needed to be favorably recommended by the 19-member committee.

Many Democrats came out in opposition to Mukasey after he refused to say unequivocally that so-called waterboarding - an interrogation technique that makes the victim believe he is drowning - is tantamount to torture and thus illegal under domestic and international law.

Mukasey rankled Democrats during his confirmation hearing by saying he was not familiar with the waterboarding technique and could not say whether it was torture.

Even Sen. Arlen Specter, the panel's ranking Republican, called that explanation a flimsy excuse and suggested instead that Mukasey declined to call waterboarding illegal torture because he wanted to avoid putting at legal risk U.S. officials who may have engaged in the practice.

But Specter said that outlawing waterboarding rests with Congress. He disclosed that he had talked with Mukasey a day earlier and received an assurance that the nominee would back up any such legislation and quit if Bush ignores his opinion.

Thus, Specter said, Mukasey had won his support.

Legal experts cautioned that if Mukasey called it torture, that effectively could have constituted an admission that the United States engaged in war crimes. It could also commit him to prosecuting U.S. officials even before he takes office.


Related article:
  • New York Jews welcome Bush's U.S. attorney general candidate

    More Jewish World news and features
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us
    And again...
    Olmert was voted the most corrupt politician for the 2nd year in a row.
    Political transfer
    Lieberman wants to outlaw the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee.
      1.   I had seen nothing in the US press 18:32  |  Mark Lincoln 06/11/07
      2.   If Waterboarding is Not Torture 19:05  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/11/07
      3.   Aren’t you worried about the Cabal 19:09  |  Darth Zaider (Ed) 06/11/07
      4.   Waterboarding IS NOT Torture!!! 19:22  |  Adam 06/11/07
      5.   Water-boarding: the hypocrisy of the left 19:54  |  Darth Zaider (Ed) 06/11/07
      6.   HIS JEWISHNESS IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN HIS ABILITY 20:12  |  B.Goode 06/11/07
      7.   LIKE JOSEPH IN EGYPT,JEWS MUST UTILIZE INFLUENCE TO PURSUE DIVINE 20:21  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 06/11/07
      8.   TO Mark 20:31  |  Steve Beikirch 06/11/07
      9.   I Didn`t Know He Was Jewish 20:49  |  Jane 06/11/07
      10.   #4 20:57  |  Moshe 06/11/07
      11.   Steve Beikirch - Adam`s Claim, NOT MINE 21:33  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/11/07
      12.   #4 Adam 21:35  |  Labhras 06/11/07
      13.   #7 Steve Beikirch 21:38  |  Adam 06/11/07
      14.   Adam - Compensation and Apology? 21:50  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/11/07
      15.   #4 Adam - torture didn`t work on KSM 22:29  |  Pablo B 06/11/07
      16.   Haaretz can`t handle the truth 22:37  |  edgar 06/11/07
      17.   Read your words again, Mark Lincoln 22:41  |  Navy Vet 06/11/07
      18.   Mark Lincoln #1 22:51  |  Veritas 06/11/07
      19.   Veritas 23:35  |  Albert Seligman 06/11/07
      20.   Labrat 23:38  |  Albert Seligman 06/11/07
      21.   #18 23:48  |  Moshe 06/11/07
      22.   Mark Lincon # 1 and Veritas #18 00:02  |  JJ 07/11/07
      23.   #18 00:03  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      24.   #9 00:06  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      25.   edgar: a classic example of Leftist Jew-hatred 00:24  |  Jake 07/11/07
      26.   Did you know that he is ORTHODOX 00:24  |  Ben Torah 07/11/07
      27.   #15,#14,#12,#10, 00:54  |  Adam 07/11/07
      28.   Mark of Lewiston - time for a job offer 00:58  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/07
      29.   Jane - it shows how far things have come 00:59  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/07
      30.   NavAmet 01:04  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/07
      31.   Navy Vet - The line was crossed several years ago 01:06  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/07
      32.   Veritas - oh twaddle 01:11  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/07
      33.   The leftist if the torture will save the life of innocent why not 01:33  |  e.m 07/11/07
      34.   Mukasey Was Going NOWHERE!!!! Two JEWISH Senators Did This. 01:43  |  Proud Pal Defender 07/11/07
      35.   Mukasey is a black eye on American justice. 02:09  |  Ah 07/11/07
      36.   #13 Adam 02:23  |  Labhras 07/11/07
      37.   #17 Navy Vet 02:28  |  Labhras 07/11/07
      38.   Ah - wrong 02:51  |  Mark Lincoln 07/11/07
      39.   Waterboard him ,until he agrees it is torture 03:07  |  Esther 07/11/07
      40.   Waterboard the buggers 03:35  |  Goldberg 07/11/07
      41.   No crises on the Sabbath 03:45  |  Goldberg 07/11/07
      42.   Moshe #23 04:20  |  Veritas 07/11/07
      43.   #35 04:27  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      44.   Albert Seligman #19 04:41  |  Veritas 07/11/07
      45.   #16 04:42  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      46.   #34 04:53  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      47.   Torture may be necessary at times 05:26  |  US CITIZEN 07/11/07
      48.   To Adam 06:49  |  khalil 07/11/07
      49.   #s35 & 38 Mark L.--You Are WRONG This Time! 07:04  |  Proud Pal Defender 07/11/07
      50.   Leftists claim flag-burning is "freedom of expression" 07:06  |  Jake 07/11/07
      51.   Esther, I`m glad life is so simple 07:09  |  Jake 07/11/07
      52.   Jewish blood thicker than waterboard water 08:21  |  0 Degrees! 07/11/07
      53.   As an American I say How Cares if he`s a Jew 10:16  |  Tupac 07/11/07
      54.   #53 Tupac--If He Were Muslim, Etc. IT WOULD BE In The Media! 12:39  |  Proud Pal Defender 07/11/07
      55.   #42 13:00  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      56.   #54 13:23  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      57.   Veritas 14:14  |  Albert Seligman 07/11/07
      58.   Albert Seligman #57 14:32  |  Veritas 07/11/07
      59.   Moshe #55 14:40  |  Veritas 07/11/07
      60.   Mukasey 15:17  |  siegfried buchwalte 07/11/07
      61.   #59 15:25  |  Moshe 07/11/07
      62.   Second in History???? 16:22  |  Joe 07/11/07
      63.   Moshe #61 16:45  |  Veritas 07/11/07
      64.   Veritas 17:01  |  Albert Seligman 07/11/07
      65.   The anti-Semites are really alive today on this article 17:26  |  Philo-Semite 07/11/07
      66.   Albert Seligman #64 19:54  |  Veritas 07/11/07
     Today Online
    Syria repeats demand to put Golan on peace summit agenda
    Responses: 210
    Editorial: Likud is unsurprisingly similar to Hamas
    Responses: 151
    Amira Hass: Gazans already desperately low on water, power
    Responses: 150
    Iran: We have 3,000 centrifuges working at enrichment plant
    Responses: 180
    Haaretz TV: Until 2004, IDF listened in to all int'l calls from Israel
    Responses: 27
    Rosner's Domain
    * Does Ron Paul single out Israel?
    * Terrified that Annapolis will fail (WTR)
    * Should American Jews have a voice in shaping Israel's policies?
    * Rosner's Guest: Trying to integrate Judaism and feminism


    More Headlines
    22:04 Public poll: Olmert most corrupt member of gov't
    23:19 Author David Grossman snubs Olmert upon receiving prize
    23:47 Lieberman tells Barak to outlaw major Arab leadership council
    23:24 U.S. chides Israel for curbing Palestinian security forces
    21:47 Rabbi Nachman gravesite could be sold into private hands
    23:12 Defense Minister Barak says long-term Gaza invasion is approaching
    20:56 Hamas convenes parliament for first time since seizing Gaza
    18:44 Syria reiterates demand to put Golan on Annapolis summit agenda
    17:33 Court demands State explain how it will prevent Gaza crisis
    22:56 Former Supreme Court chief slams planned justice system reforms
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    learn Hebrew online
    with israel's best teachers. Sign up for a trial lesson today
    Invest in Macedonia
    New Business Heaven in Europe
    Long-term Israel programs
    MASA is your gateway. More programs. More grants.
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
    JOIN FREE AT JDATE.COM
    The most popular online Jewish dating community in the world! Explore the possibilities! Click Here!
    Dead Sea Salt
    Beauty and skin care from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 10% off!
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt.
    Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza Israel
    Lowest internet rate Guaranteed at ichotelsgroup.com !
    Home| TV| Print Edition| Diplomacy| Opinion| Arts & Leisure| Sports| Jewish World| Underground| Site rules|
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved