Mukasey Disavows Torture Memo

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, meets with former U.S. District Judge and nominee for Attorney General Michael Mukasey Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) (Lauren Victoria Burke - AP)

Measuring Mukasey's independence from the White House has long been an ephemeral, but key, factor in securing support from lawmakers of both parties. Gonzales was accused of being a Bush ally unwilling or unable to stop underlings from broaching ethical and legal boundaries.

The legal controversies that plagued the department under Gonzales spanned the public policy spectrum. From the administration's interrogation techniques to the president's controversial eavesdropping program and whether nine federal prosecutors were purged for political reasons, the scandals and congressional investigations left the Justice Department leaderless and demoralized.

Setting the more than 100,000-member law enforcement agency back on its feet would be the first order of business. Since the start of the year and Congress' probe of the prosecutor firings, at least 15 senior Justice Department officials have resigned _ including Gonzales, his second- and third-in-command and five assistant attorneys general.

"This is a job interview for a big job, a big job that has become even bigger," Leahy said as he opened the proceedings. "The next attorney general has to begin to regain the public trust."

Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat from Mukasey's home state of New York, said he already had heard the answer he wanted in a private meeting with Mukasey a day earlier. Schumer said he asked the nominee, "Will you have the courage to look squarely into the eyes of the president of the United States and tell him 'no,' if that is your best legal and ethical judgment?"

Mukasey, Schumer said, replied: "Absolutely. That is what I am there for."

The White House has seldom, if ever, placated prickly Democrats into the kind of support they are exhibiting for Mukasey. But in the troubled twilight of Bush's second term, Mukasey's nomination is a political peace offering.

Mukasey was nominated to the federal bench in 1987 by President Reagan and eventually became the chief judge of the high-profile U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He played a key role in the courts' response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, signing material witness warrants to round up Muslim suspects.