Russ Feingold On Michael Mukasey

Senate Judiciary member Russ Feingold will vote against the Michael Mukasey nomination.

I will vote against the nomination of Judge Mukasey to be the next Attorney General. This was a difficult decision, as Judge Mukasey has many impressive qualities. He is intelligent and experienced and appears to understand the need to depoliticize the Department of Justice and restore its credibility and reputation.

At this point in our history, however, the country also needs an Attorney General who will tell the President that he cannot ignore the laws passed by Congress. Unfortunately, Judge Mukasey was unwilling to reject the extreme and dangerous theories of executive power that this administration has put forward.

The nation's top law enforcement officer must be able to stand up to a chief executive who thinks he is above the law. The rule of law is too important to our country's history and to its future to compromise on that bedrock principle.

That is good news. Senate Democrats shouldn't be a rubber stamp for Bush. If Mukasey can't give a straight forward answer about waterboarding then he doesn't deserve to be the nation's top law enforcement attorney.