Wartime powers and Mukasey-Senators' disquiet over nominee is rooted in presidential authority

[babylonsister]

Wartime powers and Mukasey
Senators' disquiet over nominee is rooted in presidential authority.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the November 8, 2007 edition


Washington - Much of the opposition to retired federal judge Michael Mukasey's nomination to be the next attorney general has centered on his refusal to call the harsh interrogation technique of waterboarding torture. But some senators, both Republicans and Democrats, are concerned about another aspect of Mr. Mukasey's view of the law: his embrace of expanded wartime powers for the president.

This disquiet, however, is unlikely to interfere with Mukasey's confirmation. Following his approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Mukasey seems virtually certain to win a full Senate vote on his nomination within the next few weeks.

But the unease may help explain why Mukasey's march to the Justice Department has proven so unexpectedly difficult.

"When significant conflicts arise in the confirmation process, there is usually a context of deeper problems," says William Ross, a law professor at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. "Some senators are worried about the expansion of executive powers under President Bush and feel the Senate has not exercised its proper oversight role."

Whether the commander in chief has the ability unilaterally to decide some fateful issues bearing on the nation's security is a question that has long been a source of tension between the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1108/p01s06-usgn.html

[Supersedeas]

1. Mukasey acknowledged that the President's Power puts him above the law

[babylonsister]

2. And that's another reason he should not be confirmed. nt

[Atman]

3. Too bad it won't stop the Jellyfish Brigade from confirming him

All the ducks will fall in line for Der Bushler, as always.

.

[VP505]

4. When an appointee for Attorney General

tells you in his confirmation hearing that he agrees with the Presidents radical and dangerous theories of executive privilege and authority, i.e, the president is above the law. When he tells you that he doesn't know if a procedure that has been used since the Inquisition to terrorize people is torture or not, how do you in good conscious allow that person to be the countries top Attorney representing "we the people"?