Why I Will Vote "No" on Mukasey
The attorney general of the United States must be a defender of our constitutional rights. Because President Bush thinks he can do whatever he wants to do in the name of fighting terrorism, we need an attorney general who can explain to the president what the Constitution of this country is all about. We need an attorney general who does not believe the president has unlimited power. We need an attorney general who will tell President Bush that he is not above the law. We need an attorney general who clearly understands the separation of powers inherent in our Constitution. Regretfully, I have concluded that Michael B Mukasey would not be that kind of attorney general. That is why I will be voting against his nomination.
Let me be clear. Of course the United States government must do everything that it can to protect the American people from the dangerous threat of terrorism, but we can do that in ways that are effective and consistent with the Constitution and the civil liberties it guarantees. The Bush administration and the lawyers who have enabled it for the past seven years cannot be bothered with such technical legal niceties as the Bill of Rights. This administration thinks it can eavesdrop on telephone conversations without warrants, suspend due process for people classified as enemy combatants and thumb its nose when Congress exercises its oversight responsibility. That is why I called on Alberto Gonzales to resign. I had hoped that the confirmation process for a new attorney general would give the president and the Senate an important opportunity to refocus on the core American principles embedded in our Constitution.
Unfortunately, Judge Mukasey doesn't get it. At his two-day confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he suggested that eavesdropping without warrants and using "enhanced" interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects might be constitutional, even if they exceeded what the law technically allowed. He said Congress might not have the power to stop the president from conducting some surveillance without warrants. He even, incredibly, claimed to be unfamiliar with the technique known as waterboarding.
Waterboarding is a "very exquisite torture," according to no less of an authority than Senator John McCain of Arizona, a former prisoner of war. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, provided Murkasey a graphic description of the practice. He told the nominee that it ''is the practice of putting somebody in a reclining position, strapping them down, putting cloth over their faces and pouring water over the cloth to simulate the feeling of drowning." Still, Mukasey refused to say it was tantamount to torture or to venture an opinion on whether it is constitutional. Torquemada's ghost might be smiling somewhere. I am not.
Without diminishing that issue, Mukasey's lawyerly obfuscation on the point is not the biggest or even the most basic problem I have with his nomination. There is an even more important reason why he should not become the next attorney general.
Mukasey should not be confirmed because he could not muster a simple, straightforward answer at his confirmation hearing when he was asked the simple, straightforward question: Is the president of the United States required to obey federal statutes? "That would have to depend," he weaseled, "on whether what goes outside the statute nonetheless lies within the authority of the president to defend the country."
As it happens, the Supreme Court, one of those pesky other branches of government, reaffirmed just last year that the president must comply with a valid federal statute. In a case involving military commissions, the majority even took note of the fact at the time that the Justice Department "does not argue otherwise." Mukasey evidently would argue otherwise. "If Judge Mukasey cannot say plainly that the president must obey a valid statute, he ought not to be the nation's next attorney general," wrote Jed Rubenfeld, a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School who appeared before Judge Mukasey as a prosecutor. He's got that right.
It has become an American aphorism that ours is a government of laws, not men. We need an attorney general who understands that, so he can explain it to a president who does not.
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Senator Sanders--
My heartfelt thanks. Just about the time I'm ready to give up on ALL our elected officials, one of you steps forward to demonstrate that at least a few seek to honor the Constitution and those of us who still believe in it.
Senator Sanders--
My heartfelt thanks. Just about the time I'm ready to give up on ALL our elected officials, one of you steps forward to demonstrate that at least a few seek to honor the Constitution and those of us who still believe in it.
Why can't the U.S. elect MORE 'independent' Senators and Representatives? Are the advantages of affiliation, including primaries and Congressional assignments really that indispensable?
ADVOCATE4ZPG, simple---we don't have public finanacing. Party systems are needed to maintain a flow of cash.
Fixing the system is relatively simple. A Constitutional amendment to outlaw campaign contributions, also know as bribes. A fixed quality of money be provided to announced candidates for campaign spending. If a candidate fails to get X% of the vote, they must repay the government.
Bush understands rule of law. But he doesn't care.
Sen Sanders
If Mukasey cannot commit to fundamental ethical standards and to follow constitutional law he is not the right man for the job.
Why does Congress seem so determined to marginalize its relevance?
Perhaps Mukasey might have understood waterboarding sufficiently to comment on its constitutionality if, after professing his ignorance, he was offered a demonstration, as the victim.
I also contributed to your campaign last year, and every time you strike a blow against Bushreich I feel better about that investment.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
And, if necessary, can we count on your for a filibuster???? You know, that forgotten art?
I am glad to see that someone still has the constitution at the forefront.
Why can't Bernie Sanders be OUR NEXT PRESIDENT?
We need someone with wisdom.
All Judge Mukasey needed to do was look up waterboarding on Wikipedia:
"Waterboarding is a form of torture which consists of immobilizing an individual and pouring water over his or her face to simulate drowning."
http://en.
Maybe some things are more obvious to non-lawyers, but didn't the United States prosecute WW II torturers for using waterboarding on American prisoners?
"Maybe some things are more obvious...
http://www
There's you're link CaseyBabes. See what our WWII veterans say about the issue. Thanks for your attempt.
The AG's job is to enforce constitutional law, NOT interpret it. His constituency is the American public, NOT any administration or political party.
Mukasey is inappropriate for the job.
Attaboy, Bernie.
Well said...if waterboarding is Constitutional than lets see if our "leaders" will test it out for us so we can see that it's just a harmless little exercise. I wonder who'll be the first volunteer--Bush, Cheney, Rice, Reid, Pelosi, hmmmm.
Senator: Wheras I very much appreciate your declaration to vote NO on the nomination, it is not a sufficient act. YOU MUST PUT A HOLD if you feel truthfully as upseet as you sound.
Please demonstrate the courage of your convictions.
Thank you Sir.
I find it quite instructive that the first Senator I have seen take a firm stance is not a Democrat but an independent. Maybe we need a new independence day.
Thank you, Senator!
I truly can't thank you enough for your courage and patriotism.
The question now becomes: what can we, the people, do to persuade other senators (including the Chairman, Mr. Leahy, from your own state) that confirming Mukasey as AG would be just as wrong for the country as keeping Alberto Gonzalez?
I can see the Senate Republicans acquiescing blindly as usual (what else is new?) but...the DEMOCRATS???
I've already written to MY senators.
Any other suggestions to prevent this confirmation from happening will be welcome!
Senator:
Top to bottom this vile administration is criminally insane.
Waiting them out is NO LONGER AN OPTION!
They want to DESTROY OUR COUNTRY!
FACT!
Now, get busy!
Thanks.
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