The Senate Judiciary Committee made a difficult but correct decision today in approving the nomination of Michael Mukasey for attorney general. The full Senate is expected to vote next week.
Mukasey is well qualified but ran into opposition after refusing to tell the Judiciary Committee whether he thought waterboarding was torture. That’s a serious concern, given the loss of United State’s standing on human rights in recent years after reports of torture. But Mukasey must be careful about expressing legal opinions, and he said that he personally found the interrogation procedure "repugnant" and would enforce any waterboarding ban approved by Congress.
Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., the only two committee Democrats who voted to send the nomination forward, also had a practical argument for supporting Mukasey: He’s the best candidate we’re likely to get from the Bush administration.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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