Monday, September 17, 2007

About Mukasey   [Peter Wehner]

My colleague Edward Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a respected and influential voice on judicial matters, is quoted in today’s Washington Post saying this about Judge Michael B. Mukasey, President Bush’s nominee to be America’s next Attorney General:

He has all the objective qualifications to be an excellent attorney general. He's not well known, so there would be some question marks in the minds of a lot of folks if he's nominated. But my strong sense is that the more people learn about him, the more impressed they will be."

Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who has worked with Judge Mukasey, has written on these pages that Judge Mukasey is “as solid as they come.” William Kristol agrees and has said that a Mukasey appointment should make conservatives happy. And I weighed in earlier with my thoughts on Judge Mukasey.

I would add these thoughts to the discussion so far. First, by seemingly every account, Judge Mukasey is respected for his professionalism, sober judgment, integrity, and intellect. He embodies the excellence we hope to find in public officials, and he will immediately restore credibility and prestige to a (vital) department that has been battered and distracted.

Second, it is in the national interest to have an Attorney General who is (among other things) principled and tough on terrorism, confirmed by a wide margin. He will have greater credibility when it comes to advocating for the tools that we need to keep the United States safe from attack. Think of a candidate running for President: the larger the margin of victory, the greater his ability to promote his policies. It helps, not hurts, the cause of conservatism when its advocates have broad-based backing.

It’s fair enough for conservatives (and anyone else, for that matter) to want to know more about Judge Mukasey before making a final judgment about him. “Trust but verify” can apply to cabinet members as well as to arms control negotiations. At the same time, conservatives should not think less of a nominee because he’s not politically radioactive. Judge Antonin Scalia, after all, was a “consensus nominee” — confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 98-0. And he’s turned out pretty well.

The truth is that that more people learn about Judge Mukasey, the more impressed they will be. He is respected not because he is a “mushy moderate” who holds no strong or discernable views; in fact, Mukasey is a law-and-order judge who has strongly, publicly, and eloquently defended The Patriot Act. The respect Judge Mukasey has earned is based on the quality of his mind and character. He is a formidable figure — and he will be a formidable Attorney General.

09/17 11:07 AMShare