Secret Memos Likely Subject in Mukasey Hearing
Two secret Justice Department memos justifying harsh interrogation techniques are likely to be a topic during the confirmation hearing for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey.
Rightly so, says the Washington Post in an editorial. Mukasey should be pressed to confirm that the Justice Department will strictly apply federal laws and U.S. Supreme Court precedent on the treatment of detainees, the Post says. He also should be asked about reform in the Office of Legal Counsel, which issued the memos, according to the newspaper.
“The administration has essentially been operating its own clandestine legal system, unaccountable to Congress or the courts,” the Post writes. “The resulting violations of basic human rights have cost the country incalculable prestige abroad and put its own citizens in danger of being subjected to similarly harsh treatment.”
The dispute over the memos approved by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is unlikely to delay Mukasey’s nomination, Legal Times reports.
“I think it could play to his advantage,” Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft, told the legal newspaper. “You have a Senate predisposed to liking this guy, allowing him to establish that distance between himself and Gonzales right away.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said last week he hoped to meet with Mukasey on Oct. 16 and to hold confirmation hearings as early as the next day.
