US Attorney Firings

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to hold Karl Rove and Josh Bolten in contempt today, the AP reports, for ignoring subpoenas on the US attorneys scandal. The White House, however, says the citations will likely die on the Senate floor. “I vote knowing that it’s highly likely to be a meaningless act,” Sen. Arlen Specter said. “In this context, we have no alternative.” More »

President Bush’s attempts to protect Karl Rove from testifying about the firings of US attorneys were shot down today by the Senate Judiciary Committee, meaning Rove will likely face contempt charges unless he complies with congressional subpoenas, the Associated Press reports. Bush had cited executive privilege, which protects advisers, but Bush had no hand in the firings, the committee ruled. More »

Democrats have threatened a vote holding White House aides in contempt of Congress if they don't cooperate with an investigation into last year's firing of federal attorneys, the AP reports. A citation, approved this summer by a House judiciary committee, was filed yesterday. If approved by the entire House, a US attorney might prosecute the case. More »

Alberto Gonzales might soon find himself on an unlikely side of the law if a pending DOJ report recommends criminal charges against the former AG for lying under oath. Pending prosecution may even explain Gonzales' unexpected departure, Slate ’s Dahlia Lithwick speculates. Now he’s hired a criminal-defense attorney and stopped talking to DOJ investigators. More »

The Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales secretly endorsed the use of torture techniques during interrogation by the CIA, the New York Times reports. A classified 2005 legal memorandum authorized the harshest  techniques ever used by the CIA, the Times says, including a combination of head-slapping, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, freezing, loud noises and other forms of physical pain. More »

Michael Mukasey, President Bush's candidate to succeed embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has an independent streak that could end up changing the way the Justice Department is run. This could make things sticky for Bush in dealing with the congressional probes into activities under the previous AG's reign, suggests the Los Angeles Times. More »

Before America was paying attention, Judge Michael Mukasey tried a landmark terrorism case. The 1995-96 trial of blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, convicted with nine others of plotting a massive "day of terror" at three New York sites, forced Mukasey, now President Bush's nominee for US attorney general, to navigate issues of secrecy, security and civil liberties.  More »

The GOP is uneasy with Bush’s choice for attorney general, but only because liberals don't despise him, says Slate ’s Dahlia Lithwick. Unlike Roberts and Alito, Michael Mukasey doesn’t know “all 17 twists in the Federalist Society's secret handshake”—leaving open the chance that he might be (gasp!) an independent thinker. Yet Mukasey is no "renegade outside-the-Beltway badass" either. More »

Mukasey mingled today with the Dems who will make or break his chance at becoming the next attorney general. If they're worried about him taking on the job, none showed it, Bloomberg reports. Even Senator Leahy, who wants the White House to fork over documents on its surveillance program before a new AG is approved, signaled support for the conservative nominee. More »

The confirmation of former federal judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general may not be the slam dunk the White House expects it to be. Senate Democrats have warned that the Judiciary Committee will delay confirmation unless the administration turns over documents the panel is seeking in several investigations, reports the New York Times. Mukasey was chosen specifically to avoid a bitter confirmation battle. More »

President Bush nominated retired federal judge Michael B. Mukasey today as attorney general. Seen as a compromise that would avoid abrasive confirmation struggles but still maintain DoJ’s law-and-order mindset, the choice comes after Democrats vowed to block the more controversial Ted Olson, reports the New York Times . More »

President Bush  is expected to announce the appointment of retired New York federal judge Michael B. Mukasey  as attorney general, reports the Washington Post . Mukasey, 66, is considered an authority on national security issues and is a law-and-order conservative. He is also seen as someone who could be confirmed without a long battle in the Senate. More »

A judge nominated by Reagan but endorsed by liberals may be Bush’s pick to replace Alberto Gonzalez, CNN reports. Michael B. Mukasey, 66, a high-profile judge for more than 15 years, is now on the short list of rumored attorney general candidates. Analysts say that Mukasey is ideal for a lame duck president who wants to avoid a long confirmation battle.   More »

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pledged to stop conservative attorney Ted Olson from becoming attorney general if he's nominated, Reuters reports. The former solicitor general is thought to be President Bush's first choice, but faces stiff opposition from Dems who are pushing for a less partisan figure after Alberto Gonzales' stormy term. "Ted Olson will not be confirmed," Reid vowed. More »

Conservative stalwart Theodore Olson is the likely top choice to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Reuters reports. The former solicitor general may have a partisan reputation among Democrats—he represented President Bush in the Florida election battle and was accused of trying to dig up anti-Clinton scandals in the 1990s—but sources insist he's the president's favorite. More »

President Bush is down to five candidates to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Of his current choices, Michael Mukasey, a former chief judge for the US Southern District of New York, has the most bi-partisan appeal, while Ted Olson, winning lawyer in the Supreme Court Bush v. Gore election case, would rankle Democrats. More »

Michael Chertoff, a frontrunner to replace Alberto Gonzales, has impressive judicial credentials, but the LA Times reports that he also has a background tinged with partisan politics. While head of the Justice Department's criminal division, the current Homeland Security secretary met with conservative activists and brought controversial charges against an associate of Hillary Clinton. More »

The Justice Department will investigate whether Alberto Gonzales gave misleading testimony to Congress, including whether he lied about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program and the US attorney firings. Inspector General Glenn Fine has alerted Congress to an expanded internal probe into the actions of the lame-luck AG, the Washington Post reports. More »

Alberto Gonzales' successor at Justice will find a department seriously weakened by budget cuts that have reduced prosecutions in all types of crimes, the Wall Street Journal reports. As funds have been redirected to fighting terrorism, positions in US attorneys offices remain unfilled, and investigations have languished for months.  More »

Dems will blitz Bush with document hunts and witness prep until election 2008, Robert Bork argues in the National Review, by demanding a special prosecutor along with the next attorney general . "A special prosecutor with unlimited funds, a soon-developed addiction to publicity, and a broad mandate" will go after an indictment – theater that will only distract the US at “a time of national insecurity.” More »