Part of Why Mukasey Doesn't Belong as Attorney General
Attorney General Nominee Made His Name With Terror Cases By Susan Schmidt and Dafna Linzer Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, October 11, 2007; A01 . . . Now, Mukasey's experiences in the Padilla case and other terrorism prosecutions undergird his credentials for nomination to become attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate after hearings next week, the 66-year-old Bronx native will take over an embattled Justice Department. He will deal with Congress on national security issues that remain to be sorted out in the final year of the Bush administration -- including rules for interrogating suspects and gathering evidence in terrorism cases.
Mukasey recently argued in an opinion article for the Wall Street Journal that Congress should find new ways to relieve "a strained and mismatched legal system" that cannot adequately stop terrorist plots while guarding the rights of those suspected of hatching them. He has advocated creating national security courts for terrorism cases, wher…