BUSH Picks Gonzo's Replacement-"It Came Down o Confirmability"

[kpete]

Bush plans to pick Mukasey for A.G.

By: Mike Allen
Sep 16, 2007 07:30 AM EST
Updated: September 16, 2007 04:42 PM EST

President Bush plans to choose Michael B. Mukasey, a former federal judge who was nominated to the bench by Ronald Reagan, to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Republicans close to the process told The Politico.

"It came down to confirmability," said a former Justice Department official involved in the conversations.

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.

"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."


more at:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5850.html

[saltpoint]

1. Mukasey's goods & bads aside, I say thank you to Harry Reid for blocking Olson.

Ted Olson is a monster.

[iamjoy]

2. Why Block Olson?

:shrug:

[havocmom]

7. Worse partisan hack than Gonzo?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/09/14/ted_olson/

http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/05/14/independent_counsel/index.html

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. Why NOT block Olson?...the man who helped give us the psycho-in-chief (Bush v. Gore) and while

Addressing the Supreme Court of the United States of America, US Solicitor General Theodore Olson said it is "easy to imagine an infinite number of situations . . . where government officials might quite legitimately have reasons to give false information out."

2 damn good reasons as far as I'm concerned.

[MethuenProgressive]

3. Wiki: Mukasey is also listed on the Giuliani campaign's Justice Advisory Committee

Since retiring from the bench, Mukasey has made campaign contributions to Rudy Giuliani for president and Joe Lieberman for Senate.<8> Mukasey is also listed on the Giuliani campaign's Justice Advisory Committee, which is headed by another Attorney General candidate, Theodore Olson.<9>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_B._Mukasey

[ThomWV]

4. No Confirmation hearings should be held until the White House Subpoenas Are Honored

Fuck filling the position. We haven't had an Attorney General in the last 5 1/2 years, it won't hurt a thing if we don't get another one anytime soon.

[cali]

9. Please see post 6.

Don't you think that would be better than simply leaving Clement in there? Because he IS the de facto AG. And he sucks.

[blogslut]

5. kpete!

Good to see ya! :hi:

My hope is whoever the president nominates won't be approved until the DOJ turns over the documents they've been hiding and come clean about the US attorney scandal - among other things.

[cali]

6. The Judiciary Committee should NOT confirm

Mukasey unless:

The get a commitment from him to appt a Special Prosecutor to investigate the myriad wrongdoings perpetrated under Gonzales.

And

unless he promises to enable the U.S. Attny for DC to prosecute those who are flouting subpoenas.

[MissWaverly]

8. I agree

but methinks they are going to do a quick roll over and confirm him,
I now think their schtick is to let Bush have his way and let the
voters in 2008 deal with the putrid mess. Oh, well, history will
judge them.

[EST]

10. Good point.

Very good point, although I think the word you're looking for may be "flouting."

[cali]

14. LOL. Absolutely. Thanks for the correction n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

20. delete...posted in wrong place.

[cali]

21. How is that responsive to what I wrote? n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. It's not, Cali. I posted in the wrong place...see below. I'm deleteing response to you. n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Interesting article by Glenn Greenwald:

Sounds like Mukasey, although solidly right-wing, does have an independent streak and at least a little respect for the Constitution, as evidenced by his rulings in the Padilla case. He may suck, but possibly not as bad as Gonzo or Olson.

I want to highlight one extremely relevant consideration concerning Judge Mukasey -- the impressive role he played in presiding over the Jose Padilla case in its earliest stages. After Padilla was first detained in April 2002 and declared an "enemy combatant," he was held incommunicado, denied all access to the outside the world, including counsel, and the Bush administration refused to charge him with any crimes. A lawsuit was filed on Padilla's behalf by a New York criminal defense lawyer, Donna Newman, demanding that Padilla be accorded the right to petition for habeas corpus and that, first, he be allowed access to a lawyer. That lawsuit was assigned to Judge Mukasey, which almost certainly made the Bush DOJ happy.

But any such happiness proved to be unwarranted. Judge Mukasey repeatedly defied the demands of the Bush administration, ruled against them, excoriated them on multiple occasions for failing to comply with his legally issued orders, and ruled that Padilla was entitled to contest the factual claims of the government and to have access to lawyers. He issued these rulings in 2002 and 2003, when virtually nobody was defying the Bush administration on anything, let alone on assertions of executive power to combat the Terrorists. And he made these rulings in the face of what was became the standard Bush claim that unless there was complete acquiescence to all claimed powers by the President, a Terrorist attack would occur and the blood would be on the hands of those who impeded the President.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/?last_story=/opinion/greenwald/2007/09/16/mukasey/

[NightWatcher]

12. More about Mukasey

More about the new AG pick

from an opinion piece of Mukasey's
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005059


"As we participate in this debate on what is the right course to pursue, I think it is important to remember an interesting structural feature of the Constitution we all revere. When we speak of constitutional rights, we generally speak of rights that appear not in the original Constitution itself, but rather in amendments to the Constitution--principally the first 10. Those amendments are a noble work, but it is the rest of the Constitution--the boring part--the part that sets up a bicameral legislature and separation of powers, and so on, the part you will never see mentioned in any flyer or hear at any rally, that guarantees that the rights referred to in those 10 amendments are worth something more than the paper they are written on.
A bill of rights was omitted from the original Constitution over the objections of Patrick Henry and others. It may well be that those who drafted the original Constitution understood that if you give equal prominence to the provisions creating the government and the provisions guaranteeing rights against the government--God-given rights, no less, according to the Declaration of Independence--then citizens will feel that much less inclined to sacrifice in behalf of their government, and that much more inclined simply to go where their rights and their interests seem to take them.

So, as the historian Walter Berns has argued, the built-in message--the hidden message in the structure of the Constitution--is that the government it establishes is entitled, at least in the first instance, to receive from its citizens the benefit of the doubt. If we keep that in mind, then the spirit of liberty will be the spirit which, if it is not too sure that it is right, is at least sure enough to keep itself--and us--alive."

__________________________________

..so the Constitution is MORE important than Bill Of Rights because the Bill of Rights are merely amendments to the original document, and we must give the government the benefit of a doubt when it relates to the powers of the government over the rights guaranteed to us? Silly me, I always thought that we gave people the 'benefit' and laid the burden of proof on the government to prove beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt and not the other way around. Mukasey likes the meme of guilty until proven innocent. For a former judge, he also believes that all of these 'laws' just get in the way of letting the government do what they need to do to keep us lowly sheep safe and sound. He's another one of the 'Daddy Government please save us from ourselves' kinda people.

Mukasey was the district judge who signed the material witness warrant authorizing Jose Padilla's arrest in 2002, and who handled the case while it remained in the Southern District of New York.

[Bluebear]

15. Is Mukasey Irish?

("It Came Down o' Confirmability")

[bettyellen]

19. LOL!

[Solly Mack]

16. ...

Judge Sticks by Ruling on Attorney Access for 'Dirty Bomber'

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1046833549004

and ask the question

why would Bush choose a judge that ruled against him? (yeah, he ruled against rumsfeld and the 'government' but it was a ruling against him for all intent and purposes)

to go from Gonzales, who rubber-stamped as many Bush/Cheney abuses as possible, to this?


sure..an easier confirmation for one reason...but the chance to try and erase the past abuses for another? to make those past abuses just go away? to hide behind a judge that ruled against them and pretend the abuses are over and no longer a concern - and this nomination is proof?(and yet still no accountability)



In his own words
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010505

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Mukaskey decides NOT TO hold Silverstein in contempt...911 connection here. Silverstein owned WTC.

Small connection, but a connection nonetheless. He also has a connection to the Padilla case and has a connection to Guiliani. There must be even more on this guy.

Judge Fails to Hold Developer In Contempt for Comments

*Please Note: Archive articles do not include photos, charts or graphics. More information.
March 23, 2004, Tuesday
By CHARLES V. BAGLI (NYT); Metropolitan Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section B, Page 3, Column 5, 733 words

DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Judge Michael B Mukasey decides not to hold World Trade Center developer Larry A Silverstein in contempt for violating order not to discuss case against his insurers publicly, claiming his comments did not affect jury; Silverstein is suing his insurers and insisting he needs double insurance payment to rebuild World Trade Center, destroyed in Sept 11 terrorist attacks

http://tinyurl.com/yqmchg

Sorry, but you have to pay to read the entire article.:(


Metro Briefing | New York: Manhattan: Arbitration For Trade Center Dispute


By CHARLES V. BAGLI (NYT); COMPILED BY ANTHONY RAMIREZ
Published: October 30, 2003

A federal judge yesterday ordered the developer Larry A. Silverstein and his insurers to arbitration on Nov. 6 to try to settle their battle over billions of dollars in insurance proceeds for rebuilding at the World Trade Center site. If the process fails, Judge Michael B. Mukasey said, the first of what could be three successive trials will begin in February. Mr. Silverstein's lawyer, Herbert M. Wachtell, expressed reservations about the proposed arbitrator, John S. Martin, a retired federal judge. He said Mr. Martin was a friend of his but had ruled against Mr. Silverstein in earlier stages of the case. But Mr. Wachtell agreed to the choice when Judge Mukasey said that ''you couldn't conceivably have anyone better to mediate this case.'' Charles V. Bagli (NYT)

http://tinyurl.com/29ckul


Then there's this:

A NATION AT WAR: THE COURTS; New Turn in 'Dirty Bomb' Case

*Please Note: Archive articles do not include photos, charts or graphics. More information.
April 10, 2003, Thursday
By BENJAMIN WEISER (NYT); National Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section B, Page 15, Column 5, 277 words

DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Manhattan federal Judge Michael M Mukasey rules legality of Pres Bush's designation of Joseph Padilla as enemy combatant may be appealed immediately to higher court, even before he rules on merits of challenge to Padilla's detention.

http://tinyurl.com/2jehmk

Then we have a Guiliani connection:

It seems appropriate that Mukasey's current practice at Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler includes the area of "White Collar Defense and Investigations", after all - there appears that there may be some high-level white collar crime surrounding some of the Bush administration's more notable "indiscretions"...

Oh, wait -- the Attorney General is charged with prosecuting white collar crime, my bad!

What seems even more "appropriate" is that Mukasey's son Marc is "a former Southern District prosecutor and white-collar defense partner at Bracewell & Giuliani in New York."

That's right. The son of the (potential) next Attorney General receives a nice seven-figure income from a law firm owned by the leading GOP candidate for President.

When are Republicans going to stop being so damned crooked?

In my view the Attorney General of the United States should not be someone with close ties to Giuliani. There's been enough politics in the Justice Department with Karl Rove swinging his weight around the DOJ decision-making process. It's time to make a clean break and give the people of the United States an Attorney General who is pristine and free from hints of possible impropriety.

Michael B. Mukasey isn't that person.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/16/16426/6442

[in_cog_ni_to]

18. "Hon. Michael B. Mukasey, served in the US Attorney's Office with Rudolph Giuliani" !

Not only does his son have a connection to Guiliani, but Michael B. also served in U.S Attorney's office WITH Guiliani!

NOPE. This guy cannot be confirmed.


"Cardozo turns out lawyers ready to go into the courtoom," Mukasey says. While growing up, Mukasey, 33, also had a mentor close to home. His father, Hon. Michael B. Mukasey, served in the US Attorney's Office with Rudolph Giuliani, for whom Marc campaigned in 1989. Michael Mukasey became a US district judge in 1988 and was named the chief judge of the Southern District this year. His son turns aside questions about following in his father's footsteps. "I'm not smart enough," he 1000 jokes.

http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/life/winter2001/criminal.law/

[Igel]

26. So, you wouldn't recommend him for the US Supreme Court?

He must be horrible.

Anybody that would even suggest that must be a loser, right, even if it was a case of going for confirmability?

Try Schumer.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/PR01772.html

[zestfolly]

27. Michael B. Mukasey and the Giuliani Connection

by Lee Ward
Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 01:50:13 PM PDT

It seems appropriate that Mukasey's current practice at Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler includes the area of "White Collar Defense and Investigations", after all - there appears that there may be some high-level white collar crime surrounding some of the Bush administration's more notable "indiscretions"...

Oh, wait -- the Attorney General is charged with prosecuting white collar crime, my bad!

What seems even more "appropriate" is that Mukasey's son Marc is "a former Southern District prosecutor and white-collar defense partner at Bracewell & Giuliani in New York."

That's right. The son of the (potential) next Attorney General receives a nice seven-figure income from a law firm owned by the leading GOP candidate for President.

When are Republicans going to stop being so damned crooked?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/16/16426/6442

[in_cog_ni_to]

22. Guiliani being sworn in as Mayor by Mukasey:

Rudy Giuliani, right, is symbolically sworn-in as New York City Mayor by U.S. District Court Judge Michael B. Mukasey, left, during a private ceremony in New York in this Dec. 31, 1993 file photo.

http://www.komotv.com/news/national/9818277.html

[cali]

23. why are you spamming up the thread? n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

25. I'm NOT! Who the hell are you? I'll post anywhere I damn well please. Damn, cali....

you need to take a chill pill...or a break from DU. WTF is your problem lately? sheesh.

[Pastiche423]

28. Thank you, in_cog_ni_to

for the research you have brought to this thread (and many other threads).

[in_cog_ni_to]

29. Thanks Pastiche423.

I appreciate that.:hi:

[Pastiche423]

30. You are most welcome

I should have thanked you for your great research long ago.

:yourock: