Leahy: Keep Politics Out of Justice

[spotbird]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has told Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey his confirmation could hinge on demonstrating he'll keep White House influence out of Justice Department decisions.

A key test, Leahy said in a letter to President Bush's nominee, would be Mukasey's willingness to answer questions the White House won't about a litany of issues, ranging from warrantless eavesdropping to whether federal prosecutors were fired to influence the 2006 elections.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding has declared those details off-limits under executive privilege.

"Regrettably, the White House has chosen not to clear the decks of past concerns and not to produce the information and material it should have and could have about the ongoing scandals that have shaken the Department of Justice and led to the exodus of its former leadership," Leahy, D-Vt., wrote to Mukasey in a letter first obtained by the Associated Press. "Those matters now encumber your nomination and, if confirmed, your tenure."

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVl2y6_EGb2otQdOFsUE44s2QjPwD8S1QPGO2

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Q You have no indication of a date for that?

MS. PERINO: I have heard -- I don't know if we've heard anything directly. I've read press reports that there could be something coming the week of the 15th for a hearing, but we don't have confirmation on that yet. We'd like to have that scheduled by them as soon as possible.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071003.html

Democrats Warn of Hurdle for Justice Nominee

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 — Two Senate Democrats warned today that they might delay confirming President Bush’s next attorney general unless the White House turns over documents relating to several investigations, a move that could provoke the kind of confirmation fight that the Bush administration was hoping to avoid.

......

Whether that is a negotiating tactic, or a threat that could turn into an all-out battle, was unclear today. But Mr. Leahy did say he had told the White House counsel, Fred F. Fielding, that the nomination could not go forward without the information, and that “cooperation with the White House would be central” to scheduling hearings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/washington/17cnd-attorney.html?em&ex=1190174400&en=8f67b459daed944e&ei=5087%0A

Or not.

[semillama]

1. Meanwhile, justice still absent from much of politics. n/t

[MasonJar]

2. Isn't the temporary guy heading justice worse? Not that I do NOT support

Leahy because I do.

[spotbird]

3. It's bad vs. worse

Leahy should keep his word.

It's not as if DOJ will become less political, or even decent, under Mukasey.

[kimmylavin]

4. So let me get this straight...

Executive privilege now covers the opinions of those who may be entering the Judicial branch?

[Doctor_J]

5. SO let's actually start DOING something about it, like impeaching judges

who render partisan decisions. This sounds like more talk from the limp Dems.

[Demeter]

6. How Are You Going to Enforce It, Leahy, Once the Guy is Confirmed?

You can't make him promise you something, and then not impeach after--since you have yet to impeach any of the more serious oath-breakers in this regime. Either he's clean today, or he's not acceptable. And this guy isn't clean by any definition.

[UpInArms]

7. Fred Fielding? the lawyer for Blackwater?

:wtf:

Ten years ago, Erik Prince, the son of a conservative multi-millionaire, founded the security consulting firm Blackwater USA.

Blackwater has assembled a high-profile well-connected legal team to combat the suit. They also filed a 10-million-dollar counterclaim. Blackwater's legal dream team -- which once included Fred Fielding, now White House counsel -- includes Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated the Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals during the Bill Clinton administration.

Blackwater maintains that since it was working for the government, it was "subject to the same protections against lawsuits as the military, which cannot be sued for the deaths or injuries of its troops," AP reported. The company "argues that the four families' lawsuit 'unconstitutionally intrudes on the exclusive authority of the military of the federal government to conduct military operations abroad.'"

In the two years since the families filed suit, the case has bounced between state and federal courts amid a jumble of claims and counterclaims. Last month U.S. District Judge James Fox in North Carolina ordered the families and Blackwater into arbitration, a non-public procedure that is designed to resolve disputes without a trial. While the families are protesting that decision, that is a desirable outcome for the company as it would continue to secrecy for its operations.

That we know as much as we do about Blackwater USA is in part due to the first-rate reporting of several journalists, including The Nation magazine's investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill. In his bestselling book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" (Nation Books, 2007), Scahill describes the company as "a sort of Praetorian Guard for the Bush administration's 'global war on terror.'"

He maintains that Prince "has been in the thick of this right-wing effort to unite conservative Catholics, evangelicals, and neoconservatives in a common theoconservative holy war."

At the time the book was written, Scahill pointed out that the Moyock, North Carolina-headquartered company had "more than 2,300 private soldiers deployed in nine countries, including inside the United States. It maintains a database of 21,000 former Special Forces troops, soldiers, and retired law enforcement agents on whom it could call at a moment's notice... has a private fleet of more than twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships and a surveillance blimp division."

[robinlynne]

8. You guys; if the dems won't confirm a nominee without getting the documents,

this is probably the best thing they've done this year. don't knock it. It's a small step. But it is a step!