Bush Nominates New Attorney General

Today President Bush announced his nomination for Attorney General: Michael Mukasey who is a retired judge from New York.

As chief judge of the busy U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mukasey had presided over high-profile terrorism cases.” He knows what it takes to fight this war effectively and he knows how to do it in a manner consistent with our laws and our Constitution,” Bush said, standing next to Mukasey in the Rose Garden. As chief judge of the busy U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mukasey had presided over high-profile terrorism cases. “He knows what it takes to fight this war effectively and he knows how to do it in a manner consistent with our laws and our Constitution,” Bush said, standing next to Mukasey in the Rose Garden

He was also involved in many high profile cases post 9/11 including one involving Jose Padilla.

Mukasey also had a hand in one of the most hard-fought post-Sept. 11 terror cases: that of Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was arrested in 2002 on a supposed mission to detonate a “dirty bomb.” The judge appointed a lawyer to represent Padilla, but before a hearing on whether there was sufficient cause to detain Padilla, President Bush declared him an enemy combatant. That started a legal odyssey that ended with Padilla in a different federal court. He was convicted last month of murder conspiracy, and faces sentencing later this year. Mukasey wrote an opinion piece recently in which he argued the Padilla case shows the current legal system is not well-equipped to aid a largely military effort to fight terrorists. He urged Congress to consider passing new laws to improve what he said was a mismatched legal system

He is known as a “law and order” judge which in GOP speak means one who doesn’t believe so much in rehabilitation as in punishment.
To me Mukasey is not the type of person I want as Attorney General. He too conservative and will be another Bush Puppet. But President Bush, with a little over a year left, is a lame duck and I don’t think he will nominate someone who the Democrats like. Mukasey, according to the news outlets is popular with some Democrats including Senator Schumer (D-NY). So approve him lets ride out the rest of Bush’s term and focus on winning in 2008.