The Department of Justice as Apologist
As a former career Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department, I read with dismay Attorney General Michael Mukasey's recent speech at Boston College Law School's graduation. The speech is essentially a defense of John Yoo (and David Addington, etc.) without naming names. At its core, I think it signifies what many of us knew before the Senate confirmed Judge Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales: first, that the administration would brook no break in its defense of its terrorism policies; and second, that being a judge before becoming Attorney General does not make you any less partisan or ideological.
As to the administration’s defense of its terrorism policies, Attorney General Mukasey has carried forward the same substantive policies as Attorney General Gonzales. Despite all the handwringing in the Senate in its hope that Mukasey would bring some independent legal judgment to the post, his continued refusal to articulate the truth that waterboarding is legally torture — and has been considered as such from the Spanish Inquisition to US prosecution of Japanese imperial soldiers — is the clearest evidence that Mukasey as attorney general is more of the same. It is a travesty that the nation's top law enforcement official cannot say that X constitutes torture when the Justice Department is literally in the business of saying Y constitutes a crime.
Regarding the attorney general’s partisan bona fides, although the departures of the Monica Goodlings and Kyle Sampsons is worth applauding, their departure was not ushered in by Mukasey's arrival but rather as a consequence of Gonzales's departure and months of investigations by a reinvigorated Congress shocked by the blatant politicization of the Department. So it might be fair to say that the Justice Department is less politicized, but by no means is it unpoliticized. In fact, Mukasey's appointment is a commitment to continue the administration's partisan approach to national security issues until the clock chimes noon on January 20, 2009. Mukasey's status as a former federal judge who handled some terrorism cases is being used to maximum effect to pressure Congress in ways that Gonzales, despite his best efforts, could not.
