AG nominee Mukasey visits the Hill

President Bush and Michael Mukasey, nominee for attorney general. AP photo

by James Oliphant

Judge Michael Mukasey continued his rounds on Capitol Hill today, paying a visit to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that started out lightly enough.

Television cameras and photographers were in the room as Durbin invited Mukasey into his office, where he jokingly asked if Mukasey thought he would ever "live down the endorsement of Chuck Schumer."

"It puzzles people," Mukasey cracked, grinning. "But it's a conversation starter."

Afterward, Durbin said the meeting went well, noting it was the first time he had met the retired New York federal judge.

Mukasey's chief virtue at the outset seems to be his being a certified member of the ABA, the Anyone But Alberto club. Durbin found Mukasey to be more forthcoming than the former attorney general.

"I hope he is more open and honest," Durbin said in his office after Mukasey's departure. "Alberto Gonzales wouldn't tell you what time it was if you asked him."

Durbin said he told Mukasey of three primary concerns he has about the troubled Justice Department: the controversy over the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys; the degree of warrantless wiretapping employed by the department, and the treatment of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Gonzales, of course, was deeply involved in all of those issues. But Mukasey, coming from private practice in Manhattan, doesn't have that baggage.

Durbin is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will take up Mukasey's nomination. The committee is locked in a dispute with the White House over testimony and documents relating to the U.S. attorney investigation. The committee's chairman, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), intimated Monday that the administration would have to play ball on the investigation if it wanted Mukasey's confirmation proceedings to get under way.

Tuesday, however, Leahy clarified his position after meeting with Mukasey, saying progress was being made. "Cooperation from the administration in making progress on our longstanding oversight requests is still needed and will be helpful in moving forward," Leahy said. "I am pleased to report that recent discussions that I have had with [Fred] Fielding, the White House counsel, have been encouraging on that score. I take him at his word that he will work to provide the Judiciary Committee with information and documents that we need."

Leahy and Fielding are expected to meet again tomorrow. There is no timetable yet for when the confirmation hearing will begin. Leahy's office said Wednesday that the proper paperwork for the nomination had yet to be filed with the Senate. The White House has pushed for a confirmation vote on Mukasey by Oct. 8.

Currently, Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler is running the Justice Department on an interim basis.