Attorney General

Mukasey Nomination Moves to Full Senate

The nomination of Michael Mukasey to become attorney general has been sent to the full Senate on an 11-8 vote of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two Democrats on the committee joined nine Republicans to vote in favor of Mukasey. The action virtually assures his confirmation, the New York Times reports.…

Nov 6, 2007 4:39 PM CST

Mukasey Nomination Likely to Move Forward

After another day of lobbying by President George Bush, two key Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say they will vote in favor of forwarding his nomination of Michael Mukasey as U.S. attorney general to the full Senate for confirmation. Sen Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of…

Nov 2, 2007 10:18 PM CDT

Bush Defends Mukasey in Unusual Oval Office Chat

President Bush took the unusual action of inviting reporters to the Oval Office today, where he defended attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey. Bush’s chat is another indication that Mukasey’s nomination could be in trouble over his refusal to condemn waterboarding as a form of illegal torture, the New York Times…

Nov 1, 2007 5:24 PM CDT

Judge Says Mukasey Wrong on Need for New Terrorism Framework

A federal judge is defending the ability of the federal courts to hear terrorism cases—and taking issue with a suggestion to the contrary by attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of Seattle writes in a New York Times op-ed that his experience in a terrorism trial…

Nov 1, 2007 3:26 PM CDT

Big White-Collar Prosecutions Dropping

An American Lawyer investigation of the Justice Department’s corporate fraud prosecutions shows a “precipitous decline” in major corporate fraud investigations since President Bush was re-elected. The number of white-collar filings dropped 64 percent so far this year, compared to the same period last year. The magazine says it’s not clear…

Nov 1, 2007 11:30 AM CDT

Former Gonzales Chief of Staff Takes on Food & Drug Practice

The former chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has landed in the private sector. D. Kyle Sampson, a Utah native who resigned amid growing controversy over the firing of at least eight U.S. attorneys, will join the food and drug practice at Hunton & Williams, the Salt…

Oct 31, 2007 6:45 PM CDT

Mukasey Letter Doesn’t Allay Concerns

Michael Mukasey is promising to review the legality of waterboarding, a harsh interrogation method that simulates drowning, if he is confirmed as attorney general. In a letter to Senate Democrats, Mukasey said such techniques “seem over the line or, on a personal basis, repugnant to me,” the New York Times…

Oct 31, 2007 3:20 PM CDT

Mukasey Evades Waterboarding Question

The president does have the Constitutional power to wiretap terrorism suspects without a warrant, Michael Mukasey says in a response released today to written questions posed by Senate Judiciary Committee members after his two-day confirmation hearing last week. However, the U.S. Attorney General nominee apparently did not answer in his…

Oct 26, 2007 11:34 PM CDT

New Criticism of Mukasey By Key Republican

Amid increasing concern that Michael Mukasey isn’t taking a strong enough stance against a prisoner interrogation technique that many consider a form of torture, a Republican leader has joined a chorus of Democratic critics of the U.S. Attorney General nominee. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the…

Oct 26, 2007 7:03 PM CDT

Now on the Defense Side, McNulty Still Likes His Memo

Former deputy attorney general Paul McNulty may have switched sides when he jumped from the Justice Department to Baker & McKenzie’s business crimes practice, but he still sounded like a prosecutor at an ABA meeting yesterday. McNulty wrote a Justice Department memo that allowed prosecutors to continue prodding companies to…

Oct 26, 2007 4:07 PM CDT

Growing Criticism of Mukasey re Waterboarding

Despite the seeming bipartisan support for Michael Mukasey as the next U.S. attorney general at his two-day Senate confirmation hearing last week, there is growing criticism about the former federal judge’s position on what some consider obvious torture of prisoners. The National Lawyers Guild opposed his confirmation today in a…

Oct 24, 2007 1:25 AM CDT

Former AG Says DOJ Politicized Prosecution

After a relatively convivial two-day confirmation hearing last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning President Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to be the new U.S. attorney general, the gloves were off again today in a House Judiciary Committee hearing over alleged improper White House political influence in Department of…

Oct 23, 2007 11:05 PM CDT

Lawyer for Alleged DC Madam Targets Gonzales in Seventh Dismissal Motion

The lawyer for alleged D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey claims in a new legal pleading that the charges against his client were brought to bolster the political agenda of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But the proof was less sensational than the charge, Dana Milbank reports in his Washington Sketch…

Oct 23, 2007 1:52 PM CDT

Ousted US Atty: Firings ‘Devastating for DOJ’

Fired U.S. Attorney Carol Lam of San Diego told Stanford Lawyer in her first on-the-record interview since her dismissal that the Justice Department’s decision to oust nine federal prosecutors has created devastating uncertainty and demonstrated the failure of DOJ management. The firings have sparked a public outcry and congressional hearings…

Oct 22, 2007 4:00 PM CDT

Torture ‘Bright Line’ Blurs in 2nd Day of AG Hearings

Michael Mukasey clashed with Democrats yesterday in the second day of hearings on his nomination for attorney general. Mukasey refused to agree that an interrogation practice simulating drowning violated U.S. laws against torture and said the president may be able to ignore a law during wartime that requires an intelligence…

Oct 19, 2007 11:41 AM CDT