A tough-minded US judge who is close to Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, Michael Mukasey is nevertheless seen as a non-partisan choice to restore order to the Justice Department.
Mukasey, the 66-year-old nominee of US President George W. Bush to succeed Alberto Gonzales as US attorney general, carved out a no-nonsense reputation during his 18 years as a federal judge in New York.
Among the high-profile cases he oversaw was the 1993 trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh" who was sentenced to life in jail for plotting to blow up New York landmarks.
In 2003, he was the first judge tasked to review the status of Jose Padilla, who had been arrested the previous year on suspicion he was planning to detonate a radioactive bomb in the US.
Mukasey upheld Bush's deeply controversial order to place Padilla, a US national, in secret military detention without charge. But to the White House's consternation, he also ruled that Padilla must have access to a lawyer.
As attorney general, Mukasey is likely to review other such cases arising from the contested detention of "war on terror" suspects.
Speaking alongside Bush on Monday, Mukasey said the Justice Department faced "vastly different" challenges from when he was appointed an assistant federal attorney in 1972.
"Thirty-five years ago, our foreign adversaries saw widespread devastation as a deterrent; today, our fanatical enemies see it as a divine fulfillment," he said.
"The Justice Department must also protect the safety of our children, the commerce that assures our prosperity, and the rights and liberties that define us as a nation," he said.
Mukasey also spoke of his deep respect for all US government staff who "pursue justice by enforcing the law with unswerving fidelity to the Constitution."
"My fondest hope and prayer at this time is that, if confirmed, I can give them the support and the leadership they deserve," he said.
Gonzales announced his resignation last month, bowing to pressure from Democrats who saw him as a political lackey of Bush who stretched the Constitution to breaking point in his role as the nation's chief law enforcer.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said he was glad that Bush had chosen Mukasey instead of a "partisan administration insider."
"Judge Mukasey has strong professional credentials and a reputation for independence," the top Democrat said in a statement.
"A man who spent 18 years on the federal bench surely understands the importance of checks and balances and knows how to say `no' to the president when he oversteps the Constitution," the statement said.
New York Senator Charles Schumer, a Democratic admirer of Mukasey, has in the past said the judge would be a worthy pick for the US Supreme Court.
In 1987, Mukasey was nominated as a federal judge by then president Ronald Reagan. Last year, he retired as chief judge for the southern district of New York covering Manhattan and went back to a legal firm.
Showcasing phallus-shaped portable shrines and pink penis candies, Japan’s annual fertility festival yesterday teemed with tourists, couples and families elated by its open display of sex. The spring Kanamara Matsuri near Tokyo features colorfully dressed worshipers carrying a trio of giant phallic-shaped objects as they parade through the street with glee. The festival, as legend has it, honors a local blacksmith in the Edo Period (1603-1868) who forged an iron dildo to break the teeth of a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman’s vagina that had been castrating young men on their wedding nights. A 1m black steel phallus sits in the courtyard of
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
Filipino farmers like Romeo Wagayan have been left with little choice but to let their vegetables rot in the field rather than sell them at a loss, as rising oil prices linked to the Iran war drive up the cost of harvesting, labor and transport. “There’s nothing we can do,” said Wagayan, a 57-year old vegetable farmer in the northern Philippine province of Benguet. “If we harvest it, our losses only increase because of labor, transportation and packing costs. We don’t earn anything from it. That’s why we decided not to harvest at all,” he said. Soaring costs caused by the Middle East
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest. However, voters in what Transparency International deems the EU’s most corrupt country believe otherwise — and they might make Orban pay in a general election this Sunday that could spell an end to his 16-year rule. The wealth amassed by Orban’s inner circle is fueling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services. “The government’s communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good,” said Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst
RSS