Mukasey Mum on Torture Techniques

Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination. (AP Photos/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

Mukasey looked down at his hands and took a deep breath.

Congress has prohibited cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of terror suspects, that lawmakers have said includes waterboarding. The Bush administration has refused to say whether waterboarding is among the interrogation techniques prohibited in an executive order last summer.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., indicated he'll wait to get clearer answers from Mukasey before scheduling a committee vote to confirm him.

"I would think he would want to answer as quickly as he can," Leahy said.

Even so, Senate aides said they expect a vote on Mukasey by the end of the month at the latest.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Mukasey "is not in a position to discuss interrogation techniques" that are classified, such as waterboarding. Mukasey "did not rule in or out any specific interrogation techniques," Fratto said.

Mukasey's testimony was followed by a panel of judges, lawyers and other legal experts who mostly praised him, but several took issue with his stand on waterboarding.

"Other than perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, waterboarding is the most iconic example of torture in history," said retired Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, a former Navy lawyer and dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H. "It has been repudiated for centuries. It's a little bit disconcerting to hear now that we're not quite sure where waterboarding fits in the scheme of things."

Mukasey also irked senators who sought to pin him down on how much legal leeway he would give the president, as authorized in the Constitution, beyond laws that have been approved by Congress.

The struggle over the balance of power has been a hot topic during Mukasey's hearings, underscoring two issues confronting the Justice Department _ the extent of presidential authority to eavesdrop on terror suspects, and congressional subpoenas to force administration aides to testify about whether politics influenced the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

Regarding the subpoenas, "we are at an impasse," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's top Republican.

"We have tried to find a way of accommodating what the president wants to do," Specter said. He asked Mukasey "to take a close look at it; see if you can help us resolve this impasse."