Pressing Mr. Mukasey

[cal04]

Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s nominee to be attorney general, is being promoted as a compromise candidate. When he appears before the Senate today for a confirmation hearing, he should not be waved through. Senators should press him on how he intends to turn around a badly compromised Justice Department, and on a few troubling aspects of his record, before deciding whether to confirm him.

Alberto Gonzales left behind a Justice Department that is not worthy of the name. Prosecutions were launched to help Republican candidates win elections. Lawyers were hired for nonpolitical jobs based on their politics and their sworn loyalty to the White House. The department — which is supposed to defend the Constitution — cheered on the Bush administration’s unconstitutional tactics in the war on terror.

Mr. Mukasey has a good reputation as a lawyer and a judge. But that is not enough. The Senate needs to know what he intends to do to set the Justice Department right. Will he lead an investigation of the still-festering United States attorneys scandal? Will he cooperate with Congressional investigators, make documents available and seek to obtain testimony from Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, who have made baseless claims of executive privilege?


(snip)
Mr. Mukasey should be asked about some troubling statements that he has made in his writings, including his strange assertion that the structure of the Constitution means that the government “should receive from its citizens the benefit of the doubt,” something it is doubtful the Founders believed.



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/opinion/17wed1.html?ref=opinion

[PSPS]

1. Dream on, NYT

Sometimes I wonder if these amusing provincial portraits of 'concern' that have festooned the NYT of late are simply fig leaves they now feel compelled to write, safe in the knowledge that this congress is even more likely to give bush everything he wants than the last one?

[Rageneau]

2. The Senate hearing will resemble the parole board in "Raising Arizona."

"Do you promise to be an honest attorney general? Yes? Well, okay then."