Mukasey

For five years, as the world convulsed with war, the unassuming Soviet couple rubbed elbows with the likes of Walt Disney and Orson Welles. They took in a private screening of "The Great Dictator," at the invitation of Charlie Chaplin. Their son's earliest memories are set in Los Angeles -- the yellow house nestled in flower beds with a view of the Griffith Observatory; the animal crackers bought with the proceeds of a sidewalk lemonade stand; the author Theodore Dreiser drinking so much vodka that he crawled under the table.

For five years, as the world convulsed with war, the unassuming Soviet couple rubbed elbows with the likes of Walt Disney and Orson Welles. They took in a private screening of "The Great Dictator," at the invitation of Charlie Chaplin. Their son's earliest memories are set in Los Angeles -- the yellow house nestled in flower beds with a view of the Griffith Observatory; the animal crackers bought with the proceeds of a sidewalk lemonade stand; the author Theodore Dreiser drinking so much vodka that he crawled under the table.

Re "Ex-jurist in line to replace Gonzales," Sept. 17 I am intrigued by the fact that President Bush's nominee for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, is a jurist with practically no management experience. The Justice Department is a large bureaucracy with in excess of 100,000 employees. I appreciate that the nominee has a major factor in his favor -- views on executive authority and fighting terrorism that accord with those of the president -- but some executive experience would be helpful.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey left George Washington Hospital less than a day after collapsing as he gave a speech. Mukasey, 67, was hospitalized overnight for observation and underwent routine tests, spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. She called the episode "a fainting spell." A person who attended the dinner of the Federalist Society where Mukasey collapsed Thursday night said he was shaking and perhaps slurring his words before he fell.

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote in favor of Michael Mukasey to be the new U.S. attorney general, sending his nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. What is most surprising is the wave of support from the committee's Democrats, who seem determined to ignore what they clearly view as a minor flaw in the nominee: his refusal to denounce the deplorable practice of "water-boarding" and his apparent willingness to lie to duck the issue.

'Out of the mouths of babes," goes the old saying -- to which we now may add, "and from the mouths of attorneys general." When Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey went before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week to testify about the Bush administration's use of torture to obtain information from terrorists and suspected terrorists, it's fair to assume that he had no intention of highlighting the moral absurdity of the government's position. Still, that's exactly what he did.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey left George Washington Hospital less than a day after collapsing as he gave a speech. Mukasey, 67, was hospitalized overnight for observation and underwent routine tests, spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. She called the episode "a fainting spell." A person who attended the dinner of the Federalist Society where Mukasey collapsed Thursday night said he was shaking and perhaps slurring his words before he fell.

Retired federal judge Michael B. Mukasey was sworn in as the nation's 81st attorney general, filling a vacancy left when Alberto R. Gonzales resigned amid questions about his credibility. Mukasey, 66, was sworn in at a private Justice Department ceremony about 16 hours after he narrowly won Senate confirmation as the third attorney general of the Bush administration. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Mukasey was joined by family members at the closed-door ceremony.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey wants Congress to act to prevent the release of thousands of criminals from federal prison under new crack cocaine sentencing rules. In testimony prepared for a House hearing today, Mukasey indicates his support for the new guidelines that reduce federal prison time for crack cocaine convicts -- but only for first-time, nonviolent offenders. The U.S. Sentencing Commission rules taking effect in less than a month would let nearly 20,000 federal inmates seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences.

Re "Justice acts to control tapes probe," Dec. 15 I'm shocked that the new attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, has shown himself to be just another Bush apparatchik by denying congressional committees information. It would appear that the Justice Department was being subjected to political pressure, Mukasey said, if it gives Congress any information.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey was rushed to the hospital Thursday night after collapsing and losing consciousness during a speech on the war on terrorism, a Justice Department official said. Mukasey slumped to the floor near the conclusion of his remarks before the Federalist Society's annual dinner at a northwest Washington hotel, said Peter A. Carr, chief spokesman for the department.

Critics of Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey are complaining that he has minimized the gravity of the politicization of hiring in the Justice Department and wrongly refused to order a criminal investigation of the scandal. The first accusation is on target, but not the second. In a speech to the American Bar Assn. this week, Mukasey did seem oblivious to the damage inflicted on the department by conservative political operatives who imposed a litmus test on applicants for nonpolitical positions.

More than six years after the Bush administration sent hundreds of foreign prisoners to Guantanamo Bay, the rules for deciding just who can be held and for how long remain unclear. Comments Monday by the attorney general and congressional Democrats suggest such issues will not be resolved soon -- and not before a new administration takes power. Roughly 270 prisoners remain at Guantanamo, of whom about 20 are slated to be tried as war criminals.

A House panel threatened to cite Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey with contempt of Congress unless he produced documents from an FBI interview with Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the leak of a CIA agent's identity. But Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) backed off his demand for a similar report on President Bush. Waxman's panel and the House Judiciary Committee are subpoenaing some of the same documents involving the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey told senators Thursday that a 2001 Justice Department memo insisting that 4th Amendment safeguards against unreasonable searches did not cover military activities within the United States was "not in force." Under sharp questioning from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.

The recent decisions of Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey to block any prosecution of Bush administration officials for contempt and to block any criminal investigation of torture led to a chorus of criticism. Many view the decisions as raw examples of political manipulation of the legal process and overt cronyism. I must confess that I was one of those crying foul until I suddenly realized that there was something profound, even beautiful, in Mukasey's action.

Re "Democrats decry Mukasey's waterboarding silence," Jan. 31 Did Democrats really expect candor from Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey? Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) showed that Democrats were complicit, not merely spineless. They knew what would happen. The executive branch needs oversight, and Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to make rules for prisoners. At the least, there should be full disclosure to Congress regarding our techniques, and Congress should decide what is acceptable.

A House panel threatened to cite Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey with contempt of Congress unless he produced documents from an FBI interview with Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the leak of a CIA agent's identity. But Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) backed off his demand for a similar report on President Bush. Waxman's panel and the House Judiciary Committee are subpoenaing some of the same documents involving the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

The Senate confirmed Mark Filip, 41, a federal judge from Chicago, as Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey's second-in-command, restoring the top tier of a Justice Department that had lost many of its officials to a scandal over the firings of nine federal prosecutors.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet E. Miers had committed no crime. As promised, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she had given the Judiciary Committee authority to file a lawsuit against Bolten and Miers in federal court.