Jewish community considers the nomination of Mukasey
By Lorne Bell
The Jewish Advocate
The jury is still out on the recent nomination of Michael Mukasey as a replacement for outgoing U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York’s Modern Orthodox community, will soon face Senate confirmation hearings to determine whether or not he is best suited to fill the roll.
“I think whenever someone [from the Jewish community] is running for a high position, there is a feeling of great pride,” said Nancy K. Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. “But we should be talking about whether or not he is qualified.”
Mukasey, 66, first joined the Justice Department as an assistant U.S. attorney in the 1960s and has overseen numerous high profile cases during his tenure. He presided over the World Trade Center bombing trials in 1993 in which defense lawyers tried to remove him from the case because he was Jewish.
That motion was dismissed.
U.S. Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said he was unfamiliar with Mukasey, but added that the nominee’s religious affiliation is a non-issue.
“The good news is, we’ve reached a point in American politics where his religion is not a factor,” Frank told the Advocate. “It is sublimely irrelevant, and that’s the way it should be.”
Lauded by the Bush administration for his conservative record, Mukasey holds particularly staunch views on terrorism and executive authority, maintaining that “routine” criminal laws cannot protect society against terrorists and religious fanaticism.
Still, Mukasey has split with Bush on some issues, most notably during the trial of Jose Padilla, who was detained indefinitely as an “enemy combatant” by the U.S. government in 2002. Despite the government’s efforts, Mukasey refused federal requests to question Padilla without legal representation present.
On heated issues outside of the realm of terrorism, however, Mukasey’s stance is not well known. There are few indications of where he stands on abortion, separation of church and state, and civil rights.
Despite these unknowns, Mukasey has received the backing of several prominent Democrats, including Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
And any expectations that Mukasey’s service might be swayed by political allegiances are tempered by the “disastrous precedent of the ill-fated Alberto Gonzalez,” according to Larry Lowenthal, executive director of the American Jewish Committee’s Boston Chapter.
“This attorney general will have a more independent voice [than his predecessor],” said Lowenthal.
Jason Bedrick, an Orthodox Jew and a Republican in the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, called Bush’s nomination “a smart decision.” He noted that Mukasey swore in Rudy Giuliani as mayor of New York City in 1993 during a ceremony that was moved from its original date because of Mukasey’s observance of Shabbat.
“I don’t think [his Orthodoxy] will hinder him in any way,” said Bedrick. “Any Orthodox Jew, on some level, has to be a disciplined person and consider issues of morality very seriously.”
Bedrick added that Mukasey has bipartisan support, and that he does not expect any serious holdups in the confirmation hearings.
