WASHINGTON — By all accounts, Michael B. Mukasey is not someone who is easily intimidated.
As a federal judge, he stared down convicted terrorists. He presided over a fiercely independent Manhattan federal court nicknamed the "Sovereign District of New York." He is little interested in politics or politicians.
And if confirmed as attorney general, his independent streak could pose problems for President Bush.
With his reputation already well-established and a gig at the Justice Department expected to last no more than a year or so, Mukasey, at 66, has little to lose. As a result, observers think he'll view his role much differently than did his predecessor as attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales, who developed a reputation as a loyal advocate for administration legal positions and policies.
Although Mukasey would be in the Bush Cabinet and be expected to be part of the team, those who know him say he would not hesitate to bring his considerable legal heft to bear if he believed Bush was not following the law. This could cause Bush some uncomfortable moments, especially in dealing with Congress in the ongoing probes of the Justice Department and White House.
"He is not going to be pushed around," said Bruce Ackerman, a Yale Law School professor who was a classmate there with Mukasey in the 1960s. "He is very much a serious judge. The administration cannot afford to antagonize him."
Some who have known Mukasey for years wonder whether Bush really knows what he is getting into. "If I were George W. Bush, I never would have picked Michael Mukasey," said Edward M. Shaw, a former colleague of Mukasey at the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.
On Friday, Bush officially launched the confirmation process, sending Mukasey's name to the Senate to succeed Gonzales, Bush's longtime friend and advisor. A former prosecutor himself and a judge for nearly two decades, Mukasey is widely viewed as a man of integrity. Despite conservative leanings, he has won early support from Democrats as well as Republicans.
Nevertheless, Mukasey may face tough questions from Democrats about his conservative views on national security versus civil liberties. The Senate has not scheduled confirmation hearings; Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) has threatened to delay the hearings if the White House continues to withhold documents and testimony related to the committee's investigation of the Justice Department.
