Durbin: No Answers, No Deputy

After Michael Mukasey’s genially hostile performance yesterday, maybe it’s become apparent that genial hostility is the name of the game:

Senate Democrats plan to delay a floor vote on President Bush’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Justice Department until the department responds to several Judiciary Committee oversight letters.

Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., said Thursday that the nomination of Mark Filip for deputy attorney general will be “held on the floor” until the panel receives responses, adding that Democrats have notified the department of the demand.

Among the letters that have yet to be answered:

Leahy and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel’s top Republican, also wrote to Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell on Dec. 21 asking them to preserve any audio or video recordings of detainee interrogations. The two lawmakers asked Mukasey and McConnell to canvass the government for such recordings and report back to the committee.

Mukasey so far has proven a mildly superior correspondent to Alberto Gonzales. Which is to say that he occasionally answers a letter.