Michael Mukasey | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2007 | |
| 81stUnited States Attorney General | |
| In office November 9, 2007 – January 20, 2009 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Deputy | Craig S. Morford (acting) Mark Filip |
| Preceded by | Alberto Gonzales |
| Succeeded by | Eric Holder |
| Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |
| In office August 1, 2006 – September 9, 2006 | |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |
| In office March 12, 2000 – August 1, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas P. Griesa |
| Succeeded by | Kimba Wood |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |
| In office November 9, 1987 – August 1, 2006 | |
| Appointed by | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Abraham David Sofaer |
| Succeeded by | Richard J. Sullivan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael Bernard Mukasey (1941-07-28)July 28, 1941 (age 84) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Susan Mukasey |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) Yale University (LLB) |
Mukasey testifying on staffing federal prisons before theHouse Judiciary Committee. Recorded July 23, 2008 | |
Michael Bernard Mukasey[1] (/mjuːˈkeɪzi/; born July 28, 1941)[2] is an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 81stUnited States Attorney General from 2007 to 2009 and as aU.S. district judge of theU.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1987 to 2006.
Mukasey graduated fromColumbia University with a degree in history and received aBachelor of Laws fromYale Law School.[3] He worked in private practice for two decades and spent four years as anAssistant United States Attorney in the office of theUnited States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1987, after being nominated by PresidentRonald Reagan, Mukasey was confirmed as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He became Chief Judge in 2000 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2006.
In 2007, Mukasey was nominated to the position of United States Attorney General by PresidentGeorge W. Bush following the resignation ofAlberto Gonzales. Upon his Senate confirmation and swearing-in, Mukasey became the secondJewish Attorney General in U.S. history.[4] He left office after Bush's term as president ended.
Mukasey was born on July 28, 1941, inNew York City.[5] His father was born nearBaranavichy inBelarus and emigrated to the U.S. in 1921.[6][7] Mukasey graduated in 1959 from theRamaz School, aModern Orthodox Jewishprep school inManhattan.[8]
After high school, Mukasey studiedhistory at Columbia University, where he was the editorials editor of theColumbia Daily Spectator[9] and graduated in 1963 with aBachelor of Arts. Mukasey then attended Yale Law School, where he was an editor of theYale Law Journal. He graduated in 1967 with aBachelor of Laws.[10]
Mukasey practiced law for 20 years in New York City, serving for four years as anAssistant U.S. Attorney in theU.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York[11] in which he worked withRudolph Giuliani. From 1967 to 1972, he was an associate with the law firm of Webster Sheffield Fleischmann Hitchcock & Brookfield, later known asWebster & Sheffield.[12] In 1976, he joined the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.[13] Mukasey began teaching atColumbia Law School in the spring of 1993.[14]
On July 27, 1987, Mukasey was nominated to be a United States District Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York inManhattan byPresidentRonald Reagan, to a seat vacated byAbraham David Sofaer. Mukasey was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on November 6, 1987, and received his commission on November 9, 1987; he took the bench in 1988. He served in that position for 18 years, including tenure asChief Judge from March 2000[15] through July 2006.[16]
During his service on the bench, Mukasey presided over the criminal prosecution ofOmar Abdel Rahman andEl Sayyid Nosair, whom he sentenced tolife in prison for a plot to blow up theUnited Nations and other Manhattan landmarks uncovered during an investigation into the1993 World Trade Center bombing.[13] During that case, Mukasey spoke out against leaks by law enforcement officials regarding the facts of the case allegedly aimed at prejudicing potential jurors against the defendants.[17] During that case, Mukasey also refused torecuse himself, warning that the demand for his recusal would "disqualify not only an obscure district judge such as the author of this opinion, but also JusticesBrandeis andFrankfurter ... each having been both a Jew and a Zionist."[18]
Mukasey also presided over the trial ofJose Padilla, ruling that the U.S. citizen and allegedterrorist could be held as anenemy combatant but was entitled to see his lawyers. Mukasey also was the judge in the litigation between developerLarry Silverstein and several insurance companies arising from the destruction of theWorld Trade Center.[13] In a 2003 suit, he issued a preliminary injunction preventing theMotion Picture Association of America from enforcing its ban against the distribution ofscreener copies of films during awards season, ruling that the ban was likely an unlawfulrestraint of trade unfair toindependent filmmakers.
In June 2003,Democratic New York SenatorCharles Schumer submitted Mukasey's name, along with four otherRepublicans or Republican appointees, as a suggestion for Bush to consider for nomination to the Supreme Court.[19]
On October 14, 2004, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Mukasey reversed his September 2002 decision and dismissed a case in which plaintiffs in twenty consolidated actions sued the Italian insurance company Generali S.p.A. (Generali), seeking damages for nonpayment of insurance proceeds to beneficiaries of policies purchased byHolocaust victims before the end of World War II.[20] In so ruling, Mukasey gave deference to "a federal executive branch policy favoring voluntary resolution of Holocaust-era insurance claims."[21]
AlthoughArticle III of the U.S. Constitution entitles federal judges to hold their appointments for life, in June 2006 Mukasey announced that he would retire as a judge and return to private practice at the end of the summer. On August 1, 2006, he was succeeded as Chief Judge of the Southern District by JudgeKimba Wood, enteringsenior status on the same day. Mukasey's retirement took effect on September 9, 2006.[citation needed]
On the March 18, 2007, episode ofMeet the Press, Senator Chuck Schumer suggested Mukasey as a potential Attorney General nominee who, "by [his] reputation and career, shows that [he] put rule of law first."[22]
On September 17, 2007, Mukasey was nominated by President Bush to replaceAlberto Gonzales as US Attorney General. At his nomination press conference with the President, Mukasey stated, "The task of helping to protect our security, which the Justice Department shares with the rest of our government, is not the only task before us. The Justice Department must also protect the safety of our children, the commerce that assures our prosperity, and the rights and liberties that define us as a nation."[23]
Because Mukasey would likely serve only until the end of President Bush's term in January 2009, the White House hoped Mukasey would be confirmed by the Senate by October 8, 2007.[24] At first, a quick confirmation seemed likely. SenatorPatrick Leahy, the Democratic Chairman of theSenate Judiciary Committee, was pleased that Mukasey was committed to a new administrative rule that would reduce the influence of the White House and other politicians on Justice Department investigations and personnel. This concession sought to avoid problems that arose during thecontroversy over the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys under the previous Attorney General's tenure.[25][26]
However, during confirmation hearings, controversy arose over Mukasey's responses to questions abouttorture. Mukasey refused to state a clear legal position on the interrogation technique known aswaterboarding (in which water is poured over a rag on the prisoner's face to simulate drowning). Leahy and the other nine Democratic committee members indicated to Mukasey, via letter, that they were "deeply troubled by your refusal to state unequivocally that waterboarding is illegal during your confirmation hearing..."[27]
It appeared that Mukasey may have been concerned about the potential pursuit of government employees or agents, and their authorizing superiors, in American or foreign courts under criminal charges, when responding to the Senate Judiciary committee questions.[28][29] In describing the issue's challenges to the Bush administration,The New York Times quoted Scott L. Silliman, director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security atDuke University, as saying about such court cases, which could ultimately reach the president: "You would ask not just who carried it out, but who specifically approved it."
However,Robert M. Chesney, ofWake Forest University School of Law, and other national security specialists have pointed out that prosecution within the United States would be impeded by laws adopted since 2005 which permit safe-harbor protections to interrogators for governmentally authorized actions. It was believed that secret Justice Department legal opinions approved waterboarding and other procedures officially called "harsh interrogation techniques".[28]
By November 1, 2007, five senators –Christopher Dodd of Connecticut,Joseph Biden of Delaware,John Kerry of Massachusetts,Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts andBernie Sanders of Vermont – in addition to Leahy had announced their intention to vote against Mukasey's confirmation due to concerns about his stance on torture.[30][31] Nevertheless, on November 6 the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed the nomination of Mukasey, by an 11 to 8 vote, and sent his confirmation on to the full Senate.[32] Two days later, the Senate confirmed Mukasey by a 53–40 vote.[33] The tight vote was the narrowest margin to confirm an attorney general in more than 50 years.[34] Mukasey was sworn in at a private ceremony on November 9, 2007.[35]
In 2009,legal ethics complaints were filed against Mukasey and other Bush administration attorneys for their roles in advocating torture.[36][37][38]
On September 12, 2006, following Mukasey's retirement from the bench,Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler announced that Mukasey had rejoined the firm as a partner.[39]
As of 2025, he is of counsel at the international law firm ofDebevoise & Plimpton.[40]
Mukasey, pursuant to theForeign Agents Registration Act (FARA), is registered as working on behalf of theNational Council of Resistance of Iran.[41]
Mukasey is the recipient of several awards, most notably theLearned Hand Medal of theFederal Bar Council.[42]
Mukasey andRudolph Giuliani have been friends since working at the same law firm in the early 1970s.[43]
Mukasey administered the oath of office to Mayor-elect Giuliani in 1994 and 1998.[44]
Mukasey pledged that as U.S. attorney general, he wouldrecuse himself from cases involving Giuliani.[45] Newspaper reports assumed that Mukasey would further recuse himself from cases involvingBernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner under Giuliani, who was under federal investigation for bribery and other offenses. However, neither presidential spokespersons nor Mukasey returned reporters' inquiries into whether Mukasey would recuse himself from the Kerik case.[46][47]
After retiring from the bench, Mukasey made campaign contributions toGiuliani for president.[48] Mukasey and his son, Marc Mukasey, were justice advisers to Giuliani's presidential campaign.[44] DuringGiuliani's 2008 presidential campaign, Marc Mukasey was assigned by Giuliani's campaign to block Bernard Kerik's legal defense team from interviewing witnesses that might assist his defense in an attempt to protect Giuliani from the Kerik case.[49]
During an Oval Office meeting with Rudy Giuliani in 2017, Mukasey pressed Secretary of StateRex Tillerson for the release of the indicted Turkish-Iranian gold trader,Reza Zarrab.[50]
On August 12, 2008, Mukasey told American Bar Association annual meeting delegates that "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime," with "only violations of the civil service laws" being found among hiring practices during Alberto Gonzales' tenure as Attorney General.[51]
On April 18, 2018, Mukasey published an op-ed piece inThe Wall Street Journal entitled "Trump, Cohen and Attorney-Client Privilege" attacking the use of a search warrant by the federal government to search Michael Cohen's legal records and attacking the track records of former FBI directors/assistant US Attorneys Robert Mueller and James Comey.[52]
In 2007, theUnited States Sentencing Commission amended theFederal Sentencing Guidelines to lessen the disparity between the penalties for the possession and trafficking ofpowder cocaine andcrack cocaine, citing racial disparity and the unfairness of the 100:1 crack-powder penalty threshold ratio. The Commission instead implemented an 18:1 ratio. Mukasey vehemently opposed and testified against this change, warning that thousands of violent criminals may be released under the guidelines and endanger the community. Mukasey's move was criticized by advocates of elimination of crack-powder disparity.[53][54]
In May 2004, while still a member of the judiciary, Mukasey delivered a speech (which he converted into aThe Wall Street Journal opinion piece) that defended theUSA PATRIOT Act. The piece also expressed doubt that theFBI engaged inracial profiling of Arabs and criticized theAmerican Library Association for condemning the Patriot Act but not taking a position on librarians imprisoned inCuba.[42]
On August 22, 2007,The Wall Street Journal published anotherop-ed by Mukasey in which he argued that "current institutions and statutes are not well suited to even the limited task of supplementing a military effort to combatIslamic terrorism." Mukasey instead advocated forCongress, which "has theconstitutional authority to establish additional inferior courts," to "turn [its] considerable talents to deliberating how to fix a strained and mismatched legal system."[55]
Speaking in London on March 14, 2008, Mukasey said that he hoped the detainees charged with participating in the September 11 attacks are not executed if found guilty in order to avoid creating anymartyrs.[56] Speaking in New York on March 5, 2012, Mukasey said his comments in 2008 were taken out of context. His "martyr" comment was a humorous reason offered as the only reason not to seek the death penalty. He then said if the detainees were found guilty, they should be executed.
On December 11, 2014, Mukasey publicly stated on CNN that he believedwaterboarding could not be called torture.[57] In a 2008 hearing, he said waterboarding would feel like torture if he were subjected to it.[58] Asked directly if Mukasey was a liar because he claimed that enhanced interrogation produced useful intelligence, SenatorJohn McCain stated unequivocally, "Yes, I know that he is. Even if we had gotten useful information, the propaganda and the image and the behavior of the greatest nation on earth from torturing people is not what we want and it helps the enemy."[59]
Mukasey is married to Susan Mukasey, who has worked as a teacher and headmistress of the lower school at theRamaz School.[60][61] The Mukaskeys have a daughter, Jessica, and a son, Marc.[62][63] Marc Mukasey is a founding partner of Mukasey Frenchman LLP, a small law firm in New York City.[64]
Mukasey graduated from Ramaz in 1959 and went on to Columbia College and Yale Law School.
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York 1987–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York 2000–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Attorney General 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
