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Politics

A replacement for Gonzales?

Hints that a former U.S. judge is a favorite fire up debate about his record and qualifications.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 16, 2007

WASHINGTON - Conservatives on Saturday lined up for and against potential attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, the man they believe has ascended to the top of President Bush's list of replacements for Alberto Gonzales.

Earlier in the week, Democrats in the Senate threatened to block confirmation of another prospect: Theodore Olson, a longtime GOP ally and former solicitor general who represented Bush before the Supreme Court in the contested 2000 presidential election.

The behind-the-scenes battle over who will succeed Gonzales heated up over the weekend as the president, who was at Camp David, moved closer to announcing his choice.

So far, the White House has stayed quiet about who will replace Gonzales. An announcement is expected this week, and some legal conservatives and Republicans told the Associated Press that the White House appeared to be signaling that Mukasey was Bush's pick.

That prompted questions and praise for the former U.S. district judge from New York, who is an adviser to Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign.

Some legal conservatives and Republicans have expressed reservations about Mukasey's legal record and past endorsements, and said some groups have been drafting a strategy to oppose him.

Others hailed Mukasey's record, including some of Bush's toughest critics.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., previously recommended Mukasey for a Supreme Court vacancy.

In June 2005, the liberal Alliance for Justice put Mukasey's name on a list of four judges who, if chosen for the Supreme Court, would show the president's "commitment" to picking someone who could be supported by both Democratic and Republican senators.

Attempts to reach Mukasey on Saturday were unsuccessful.

Besides Mukasey and Olson, others being eyed for the post include former deputy attorney general George Terwilliger; 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William Wilkins; and former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson, who is general counsel at PepsiCo.

Mukasey has handled terrorist cases in the U.S. legal system for more than 10 years. He played a key role in the terror case of Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was arrested in 2002 on a supposed mission to detonate a "dirty bomb."

Opponents of Mukasey - especially those against abortion - are upset about a 1994 deportation case he handled involving a Chinese man who claimed political persecution by Chinese authorities for defying the one-child, forced-abortion policies.

[Last modified September 15, 2007, 23:48:18]