Highlights of yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee vote on AG nominee Michael Mukasey, from the Post:
Schumer and Feinstein said they took solace in Mukasey’s assurances that he would enforce any future waterboarding ban passed by Congress. That argument prompted a robust retort from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).
“He will, in fact, enforce the laws that we pass in the future? Can our standards have really sunk so low?” Kennedy said. “Enforcing the law is the job of the attorney general. It’s a prerequisite, not a virtue.” . . .
One of the most emotional moments yesterday came from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a military lawyer who supported Mukasey but criticized his answers on waterboarding. Graham, who has frequently clashed with the Bush administration on interrogation and detention policies, said Mukasey is “a good man of the law” but also urged Congress to pass legislation specifically outlawing the use of waterboarding by all government entities, including the CIA.
“The world is not short of people and countries who will waterboard you. There’s not a shortage of people who will cut your heads off in the name of religion,” Graham said. “There is a shortage of people who believe in justice, not vengeance.”
Graham’s speech prompted Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and then Kennedy to leave their chairs and walk over to thank him, despite his support for Mukasey’s nomination.
