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WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he is bothered by Michael Mukasey's refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture but will support his nomination for attorney general anyway.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., joins two key Senate Democrats in saying he will back Mukasey because the retired judge has said that if Congress passes a law banning waterboarding, "the president would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore such a law."
"He could have said a lot of things which would have given me more assurances," Specter said. "But he is intelligent; he's really learned in the law. He's strong, ethical, honest beyond any question. He's not an intimate of the president."
"And you have to balance it off with where we are today," said Specter, R-Pa. "The Department of Justice is dysfunctional. It is not performing. And every day that passes, we do not have someone in charge of the investigation against terrorism, the fight against violent crime."
The Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Mukasey's nomination Tuesday.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Sunday reiterated his support for Mukasey, even though he said Mukasey's answers about waterboarding haven't been totally clear.
"I wanted (Mukasey) to say that waterboarding was torture and illegal," McCain, a former prisoner of war, told reporters in Mason City, Iowa. "He said that he would get briefed on the procedures."
The Republican presidential candidate — who is not on the Judiciary Committee — said he received a letter from Mukasey that said the former judge found waterboarding, which simulates drowning, "repugnant and he would never support such a thing."
Mukasey's confirmation had been in doubt as five of the panel's 10 Democrats, including Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, had lined up against Mukasey after he refused to state categorically that waterboarding is illegal.
But last Friday, Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California announced they would support the nomination. With nine Republicans on the panel, Schumer and Feinstein's support virtually guarantees that a majority of the committee will recommend his confirmation.
Specter previously had been mum on whether he would support Mukasey, citing questions about waterboarding.
On Sunday, Specter said he believed "Judge Mukasey went about as far as he could go" in stating his views because a more categorical answer that waterboarding was illegal could open a wave of lawsuits against administration officials.
"It is very important, in the national interest, that we have a strong attorney general. So I would have liked better assurances," Specter said. "And I think Congress ought to take a firm stand on waterboarding."
Specter spoke on CNN's "Late Edition."
__
Associated Press writer Amy Lorentzen in Mason City contributed to this report.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- Public Discussion (8)
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{"commentId":1156584,"authorDomain":"jaawalla"}
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., joins two key Senate Democrats in saying he will back Mukasey because the retired judge has said that if Congress passes a law banning waterboarding, "the president would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore such a law."
Except, of course, for those pesky signing statements Bush is so fond of.
{"commentId":1156584,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"jaawalla"}
- 2 votes
#1 - Sun Nov 4, 2007 2:27 PM EST{"commentId":1156651,"authorDomain":"TheObserver1"}
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., joins two key Senate Democrats in saying he will back Mukasey because the retired judge has said that if Congress passes a law banning waterboarding, "the president would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore such a law."
Except that Congress has not, and I suspect will not, pass an anti-waterboarding law.
{"commentId":1156651,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"TheObserver1"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1156793,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
This is a disgrase and that my NY Senator Schumer gave him a thumbs up is an outrage. Spectre has been covering for the Bush crowd from his days on the Warren Commission when the details of George H.W. Bush's involvement in Dallas and phoning the tips on Oswald were swept out of the headlines.
{"commentId":1156793,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1157647,"authorDomain":"a0ted"}
Pamela,
Schumer and Feinstein, not only "Chicharra".
Do the Dems wanted a new Attorney General or don't?
{"commentId":1157647,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"a0ted"}
{"commentId":1156814,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
10 Things You Didn't Know About Michael Mukasey - By Jennifer O'Shea
Compiled by the U.S. News & World Report Library Staff.
1. Born in 1941, Michael Mukasey grew up in the Bronx.
2. Mukasey graduated from Columbia University in 1963 and Yale Law School in 1967.
3. While in college, Mukasey tried out a different career: He worked one summer as a reporter for United Press International.
4. Early in his career, Mukasey became friends with another young attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Mukasey once played a practical joke on Giuliani, sending him a letter describing him as "completely unqualified" for a job at his firm.
5. Mukasey was an assistant U.S. attorney and head of the official corruption unit when Giuliani was U.S. attorney in New York. To prepare for trials, Giuliani practiced his cross-examinations on Mukasey, who would portray the witness.
6. Mukasey has moved between public and private practice throughout his career. After more than a decade with the New York firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, he returned to federal service in 1987 when Ronald Reagan nominated him for a judgeship in the Southern District of New York. Mukasey was chief judge of the district for six years.
7. When Giuliani was elected mayor of New York in 1993 and 1997, Judge Mukasey presided at his friend's swearing-in. In fact, one of the ceremonies was held at Mukasey's own Manhattan apartment.
8. During his tenure in the Southern District, Mukasey presided over a number of important terrorism-related cases, including the 1996 conviction of Omar Abdel Rahman and the initial 2003 proceedings against Jose Padilla. These high-profile cases brought increased security. At one point, Mukasey received round-the-clock security from U.S. marshals.
9. Mukasey retired from the federal bench in September 2006 to return to his partnership at Patterson Belknap. He and his son, attorney Marc Mukasey, also serve on the Giuliani campaign's Justice Advisory Committee, which advises the candidate on legal issues.
10. Although a conservative, Mukasey has supporters on the Democratic side. In 2003, Sen. Chuck Schumer recommended Mukasey as a candidate for a Supreme Court appointment. In 2005, the liberal group Alliance for Justice suggested that he would have bipartisan support for such a position.
{"commentId":1156814,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 3 votes
#2 - Sun Nov 4, 2007 4:27 PM EST{"commentId":1156867,"authorDomain":"tguillem"}
Specter is a joke, plain and simple, the one thing one can say about the guy is that he is consistent, whenever he starts to talk like he may do what is right, he ALWAYS goes the way that the administation orders him to go.
{"commentId":1156867,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"tguillem"}
- 1 vote
#3 - Sun Nov 4, 2007 4:56 PM EST{"commentId":1157649,"authorDomain":"a0ted"}
And from whom Leaky, Kennedy, Feingold got their orders not to confirm Judge Mukasey?
{"commentId":1157649,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"a0ted"}
{"commentId":1157475,"authorDomain":"jerwelman"}
good on him!
{"commentId":1157475,"threadId":"171398","contentId":"1072728","authorDomain":"jerwelman"}
#4 - Sun Nov 4, 2007 10:11 PM EST{"canLink":false,"threadId":"171398","isPrivate":false}
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