Posted on 09/16/2007 8:54:19 AM PDT by Babu
White House officials signaled to influential conservatives this weekend that Michael B. Mukasey, a nominee of President Ronald Reagan who is the former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is the likely choice to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, several Republicans close to the process told The Politico.
"It came down to confirmability," said a former Justice Department official close to the conversations.
Democrats and liberals are expected to view the choice as conciliatory, the Republicans said. Conservatives had been rooting for former Solicitor General Theodore B. (Ted) Olson, but Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) vowed Wednesday to block his confirmation.
Mukasey, 66, worked under Rudolph Giuliani as a federal prosecutor in New York and is supporting the former mayor for president. Mukasey's son is a law partner with Giuliani.
A White House official said Mukasey, who retired from the bench last year, was recommended by both Republicans and Democrats when President Bush's emissaries sought advice on successors to Gonzales, who resigned following a blizzard of complaints about the firing of several U.S. attorneys.
Mukasey's supporters include Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"The White House seems like they don't want a confirmation fight," said a Republican close to the selection process. "They think this guy is bulletproof from the left."
And, the official added, "They want to make sure there's not a Harriet Miers rebellion from the right," referring to a Supreme Court choice by Bush whose nomination was later withdrawn.
White House officials would not comment on the process.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Delaware Democrat who is also on the Judiciary Committee, indicated on Sunday morning he was not initially opposed to Mukasey.
"The truth is I don’t know anything about him… As long as he can.. assert and I believe he understands he is not just the president's lawyer but the country’s lawyer, I could support him," Biden said on "Fox News Sunday."
"He has to pass that test for me, go through that filter,'' Biden added. "Is he going to be the president’s guy, or stand up and defend the constitution and be the people’s lawyer? And I just don’t know the answer to that. "
Administration officials scrambled to convince the conservatives that Mukasey, who is not well known in Washington and was Democrats' preferred candidate on the White House list of finalists for the job, would not be a disappointment.
Some conservatives objected to the choice and "gave the White House an earful," according to one Republican familiar with the process.
Some of these critics raised the case of Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, who was an enigma when nominated by President George H.W. Bush and has turned out to be a key moderate.
Gonzales, whose resignation is effective Monday, gave farewell remarks Friday. Bush could announce his replacement as soon as Monday, according to the Republicans close to the process.
Some leading conservatives had hoped Reid's objection would help Olson's chances.
Contending that his star power and stature would show Bush still has fight left in him, key Republicans said Olson would do the best job of getting a demoralized and distracted Justice Department back on track.
Unlike Olson, Mukasey does not have experience at Justice Department headquarters. Before Mukasey's nomination to the federal bench, he was assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District's criminal division when Giuliani was U.S. attorney.
He is a member of the Justice Advisory Committee of Giuliani's presidential campaign. His son Marc L. Mukasey is a partner at the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, where the former mayor is a senior partner.
Michael Mukasey, who was born in the Bronx in 1941, got his undergraduate degree from Columbia College and his law degree from Yale Law School.
He was nominated to the bench by Reagan in 1987, and was chief judge from 2000 to 2006. He then rejoined the Manhattan-based law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, where he is a partner.
As judge, he presided over the trial of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Mukasey also signed the material witness warrant authorizing the arrest of terrorism suspect Jose Padilla in 2002.
Mukasey's law firm biography adds: "He also presided over major cases involving the dispute between Larry Silverstein and his insurers concerning insurance proceeds related to the World Trade Center site and the Motion Picture Association of America’s ban on the distribution of new movies to critics and award panels."
William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, praised Mukasey on Saturday night in an article titled, "Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General ... And conservatives should be happy."
Kristol wrote that 'the most contentious fights over the next year are likely to be on war-on-terror issues," and he said that Mukasey "is first-rate on these."
Last month, Mukasey wrote an Op-Ed for The Wall Street Journal about "the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions."
The others on the White House's list of five finalists were Laurence H. Silberman, a senior circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; George J. Terwilliger III, who was deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush; and Larry D. Thompson, who was deputy attorney general early in this administration.
I’m not sure why being a Giuliani supporter is relevant, since the conservative pick, Ted Olson, is also a Giuliani supporter.
two strikes
Ill bet he wont enforce our laws on illegal immigration.
“They want to make sure there’s not a Harriet Miers rebellion from the right...”
I wonder if the WH is banking on us being so burned out with disappointment by now that we won’t put up a fuss on this one.
I’m betting they’re wrong. :)
Does he mean Bush needs to appoint somebody like Reno? LOL!
Why even bother with picking someone the democrats want? Just recess appoint them to fill out the term. Wasted effort or kissing ass is no way to finish out a disappointing final term of office.
He was picked by Ronald Reagan. That has to mean something.
A woman has been jailed for 35 years by a federal court in New York for running an immigrant-smuggling ring. Cheng Chui Ping ran a multi-million dollar scheme which transported hundreds of illegal immigrants to the US in packed cargo ships.
During one operation in 1993, a ship carrying immigrants ran aground off the US coast and 10 people drowned.
The 57-year-old was convicted of charges including conspiracy to commit people smuggling and money laundering.
Cheng, also known as Sister Ping, pleaded for more than an hour for a lenient sentence, saying she was a hard-working immigrant who loved the United States and had been terrorised by Chinatown gangs.
US district judge Michael Mukasey described her speech as "simply incredible" and sentenced her to the maximum penalty allowed by law.
If Bush chooses this guy if means he has thrown in the towel and is just going to sit it out until his term is up.
White House officials signaled to influential conservatives this weekend that Michael B. Mukasey, a nominee of President Ronald Reagan who is the former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is the likely choice to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Mukasey, 66, worked under Rudolph Giuliani as a federal prosecutor in New York and is supporting the former mayor for president. Mukasey's son is a law partner with Giuliani.Mukasey's supporters include Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
I wonder...
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