Posted on 09/11/2007 2:59:38 PM PDT by ventanax5
had the privilege of appearing before Judge Mukasey for nearly three years, from 1993 into 1996, when, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, I led the prosecution of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven other jihadists who had waged a terrorist war against the United States — bombing the World Trade Center, plotting to strike other New York City landmarks (including the United Nations complex, the FBI’s lower Manhattan headquarters, U.S. military installations, and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels), and conspiring political assassinations against American and foreign leaders.
The case was bellwether for 9/11 and its aftermath, presenting all the complex and, at times, excruciating issues we deal with today: the obscure lines a free society must draw between religious belief and religiously motivated violence, between political dissent and the summons to savagery, between due process for accused criminals with a right to present their defense and the imperative to shield precious intelligence from incorrigible enemies bent on killing us.
The trial was probably the most important one ever witnessed by … nobody. In an odd quirk of history, our nine-month proceeding began at the same time as, and ended a day before, the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial. While Americans were riveted to a televised three-ring circus in California, Judge Mukasey, in his meticulous yet decisive way, was demonstrating why our judicial system is the envy of the world: carefully crafting insightful opinions on the proper balance between national security and civil liberties, permitting the government to introduce the full spectrum of its evidence but holding it rigorously to its burden of proof and its ethical obligations; managing a complex litigation over defense access to classified information; and developing jury instructions that became models for future national-security cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
If Andrew McCarthy is for this guy then that is reason enough for me to be against him. Andy also holds his buddy Patrick Fitzgerald in high regard.
For me if Andrew McCarthy supports this guy , it is good enough for me. I think Andrew McCarthy is one of the most level headed guys writing about politics. And yes Patrick is a friend of Andrew M., he more or less took a pass commenting on him.
Ted Olson gets my vote
On June 2003, Democratic New York Senator Charles Schumer submitted Mike Mukasey’s name for Presiden Bush to consider for nomination to the Supreme Court!
Anyone who Chuck Schumer supports and nominates to be a Justice on the Supreme Court (2003) Court - I would find worthy of more serious investigation!
Would you trust someone Democratic New York Senator Schumer nominated??
Barbara was a Freeper, do we know if Ted is?
BTTT!
Why is what Sen. Schumer and Nan Aron say any more relevant than that President Reagan thought highly enough of Judge Mukasey to put him on the bench? And while I haven’t frankly been interested enough to inform myself about Nan Aron’s views, what Sen. Schumer has said is that Judge Muksaey is a conservative lawyer who puts the rule of law first. That happens to be true. Schumer hasn’t said he sees eye-to-eye with Mukasey on every issue — or even, perhaps, most issues. He has, instead, indicated that he believes Mukasey is a brilliant, honest guy who would carry out the business of the Justice Department with competence, fairness and integrity. That also happens to be true. Something is not wrong just because Senator Schumer says it.
And what would our reaction be if Democrats were lining up against the Judge for no better reason than that he was a Reagan appointee? We’d be screaming bloody murder.
My suggestion is that regardless of what Schumer, Aron, Reagan, Kristol, I or anyone else thinks/thought of Mike Mukasey, the best way to judge the Judge is by his own words, which people can read, for example, here and here — in addition to about a zillion published opinions.
This is not a hard call.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.