CBN News - ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow Provides Analysis on Attorney General Nominee

Watch Jay Sekulow's Interview on CBN's The 700 Club here.

September 17, 2007
By John Jessup, CBN News

WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen his nominee for the next attorney general: Michael Mukasey.

The president wants Senate lawmakers to act quickly in considering Mukasey as his nominee to lead the Department of Justice.

If confirmed, Mukasey would become the nation's 81st attorney general and the third to serve in the Bush administration.

Click play to hear more from the ACLJ's Jay Sekulow on President Bush's pick for attorney general, following John Jessup's report.

The 66-year old retired federal judge was confirmed to the bench in 1987 after being nominated by Ronald Reagan and served as chief judge of Manhattan's federal trial court for six years.

He's not a household name, but he's been involved a several big terrorism cases.  Namely, Mukasey presided over the criminal prosecution of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman whom he sentenced to life in prison for plotting to destroy landmarks in New York City.

He also presided over the initial proceedings in the terrorism trial of Jose Padilla.

His supporters believe his wide experience in terrorism cases, impeccable credentials, and strong law-and-order jurisprudence will help him restore confidence at the Justice Department, where morale is low after months of congressional investigations into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

The short list reportedly included contenders considered more high-profile and more conservative.

But analysts say The White House went with Mukasey to avoid a testy confirmation battle over others like former Solicitor General Ted Olson, whom some democrats threatened to block.

Mukasey, on the other hand, appears to have support from key Democrats like Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who offered his name as a nominee for the Supreme Court in 2003.

"The president now has an opportunity to right the ship and chart a new course," Schumer said. "While he is certainly conservative, Judge Mukasey seems to be the kind of nominee who would put rule of law first and show independence from the White House - our most important criteria."

In the upcoming congressional hearings on Capitol Hill both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee will grill Mukasey on a range of issues.

Questions will include everything from the Constitution to his legal record and national security in an attempt to assess whether he will be the president's lawyer or the lawyer for the people.