President Bush nominates former federal judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general.
Mukasey may be best known for presiding over terrorism cases involving Jose Padilla and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. The former federal judge made headlines in the Padilla case when he ruled the president had the authority as commander in chief to hold someone as an enemy combatant, despite the fact Padilla is an American citizen and was arrested on U.S. soil. However, Mukasey later ruled against the Bush administration when he found that Padilla had a due-process right to see his attorney, despite government arguments that doing so would affect efforts to interrogate him.
Emily Bazelon, senior editor with the online magazine Slate talks to Madeleine Brand about Mukasey and whether Democrats will support the president's nomination.
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