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Dems’ support of Mukasey slips ahead of panel’s vote |
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By Manu Raju
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Posted: 11/02/07 07:45 PM [ET] |
Opposition in the Senate to President Bush’s attorney general nominee continued to grow Thursday, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled the Senate would not consider the nomination if it does not clear a crucial vote next week in the Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (Mass.), a senior Democrat on the committee, said he would oppose the choice of Michael Mukasey to succeed Alberto Gonzales. “This is a nomination I hoped to support,” Kennedy said on the floor Thursday.
Kennedy now joins three other Judiciary Committee Democrats — Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Joseph Biden (Del.) — who have announced their opposition to Mukasey. The nominee has seen his support evaporate after he declined to state whether he believes waterboarding constitutes torture, saying that he had not been briefed on U.S. interrogation techniques.
The Judiciary Committee meets next Tuesday to consider the nomination, which will need 10 votes to advance to the floor.
Kennedy’s opposition puts more pressure on Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to decide whether to join the chorus of Democratic opposition or vote for Mukasey, whom he recommended and endorsed for the position. On Thursday, Schumer faced a barrage of questions about his intentions, but repeatedly refused to discuss how he will vote at the Nov. 6 Judiciary Committee meeting.
“When I make a decision, I will let you know,” an agitated Schumer said. “I’m not going to have a public discussion on it.”
Reid, coming to Schumer’s defense, said there are a number of senators whom he spoke with who “have not made up their minds.” Other Judiciary Committee Democrats are equally mum, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
Republicans hope they can win over Feinstein, given that she broke ranks and sided with committee Republicans in August to send the nomination of Leslie Southwick as an appeals court judge to the Senate floor. Southwick was later confirmed over strong Democratic objections.
If the Judiciary Committee had not approved Southwick, Reid would not have scheduled a floor vote on the nomination, the senator said Thursday. By the same logic, Reid said, if Mukasey does not muster majority support in committee, the nomination will not come to the floor for consideration.
Mukasey would likely be confirmed if he received an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
“I believe in the committee process,” Reid said.
The majority leader did not announce a position of his own regarding the nominee, saying he did not want to interfere with committee consideration. But he did not hide his concerns over Mukasey’s legal analysis of waterboarding, which simulates drowning.
“I don’t think it’s much of a secret how I feel about this,” Reid said. “I’m a lawyer, OK? If there ever was any indication why people dislike lawyers, read the letter he wrote. It was so lawyer-like no one knew what he was saying.”
Meanwhile, Bush launched a public defense of his nominee Thursday in an effort to persuade wary Democrats to support the nomination.
“As a price for his confirmation, some on that committee want Judge Mukasey to take a legal position on specific techniques allegedly used to interrogate captured terrorists,” said Bush.
Bush said Mukasey could not state more than what he already has said, arguing that the program is classified and that his statements could impact professional interrogators in the field.
“He does not want any statement of his to give the terrorists a window into which techniques we may use and which ones we may not use,” said the president.
Mukasey did find some support in the Senate Thursday, including backing from Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who pleaded with the Judiciary Committee to “look at his entire record. Don’t turn him down and deprive the nation … because of one opinion.”
But Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined the opposition Thursday, arguing that U.S. standing in the world would deteriorate and the practice would persist in violation of domestic and international laws unless it disavowed waterboarding.
Klaus Marre contributed to this report. |
