Monthly Archives: October 2007

Federal News Service

October 18, 2007 Thursday

PANEL III OF A HEARING OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE;
SUBJECT: CONTINUATION OF EXECUTIVE NOMINATION OF MICHAEL MUKASEY TO BE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES;
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR BENJAMIN CARDIN (D-MD);
WITNESSES: CHUCK CANTERBURY, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE REAR ADMIRAL JOHN HUTSON, JAGC, U.S. NAVY (RETIRED), PRESIDENT AND DEAN, FRANKLIN PIERCE LAW CENTER DAWN JOHNSEN, PROFESSOR, INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW JOHN MARTIN, PARTNER, MARTIN & OBERMAIER, LLC THEODORE SHAW, DIRECTOR-COUNSEL AND PRESIDENT, NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. DICK THORNBURGH, OF COUNSEL, K&L GATES, AND FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES MARY JO WHITE, PARTNER, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON, LLP;
LOCATION: 216 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING

ANEL III OF A HEARING OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBJECT: CONTINUATION OF EXECUTIVE NOMINATION OF MICHAEL MUKASEY TO BE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES CHAIRED BY: SENATOR BENJAMIN CARDIN (D-MD) WITNESSES: CHUCK CANTERBURY, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE REAR ADMIRAL JOHN HUTSON, JAGC, U.S. NAVY (RETIRED), PRESIDENT AND DEAN, FRANKLIN PIERCE LAW CENTER DAWN JOHNSEN, PROFESSOR, INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW JOHN MARTIN, PARTNER, MARTIN & OBERMAIER, LLC THEODORE SHAW, DIRECTOR-COUNSEL AND PRESIDENT, NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. DICK THORNBURGH, OF COUNSEL, K&L GATES, AND FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES MARY JO WHITE, PARTNER, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON, LLP LOCATION: 216 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C. TIME: 3:48 P.M. EDT DATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007

SEN. CARDIN: The Judiciary Committee will come back to order on the confirmation hearings of Judge Mukasey for attorney general of the United States.

I want to welcome the panel of outside experts. We thank you very much for your cooperation in being here today. It’s very important that the record in regards to the confirmation of an attorney generation — that there be opportunity for witnesses that know the nominee or could add to the consideration of the committee have an opportunity to give that testimony. And we thank you all for agreeing to be here today and to be witnesses at this hearing.

As is the tradition of the Judiciary Committee, I’m going to ask you all to rise in order to take an oath.

(The acting chairman administers the oath to the witnesses.)

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We will now hear from Judge John Martin. Judge Martin, a partner in Martin & Obermaier in New York City, was a United States district judge in the Southern District of New York from 1990 to 2003 and worked very closely with Judge Michael Mukasey in that capacity. Prior to his judgeship, Judge Martin served as the United States attorney for the Southern Division of New York from 1980 to 1983, worked as an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States in Washington, D.C. and worked in private practice.

A native New Yorker, Judge Martin graduated from Manhattan College and Columbia Law School and clerked for the Honorable Leonard P. Moore of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Judge Martin has received awards for his outstanding service, including the Emory Buckner Award from the Federal Bar Council and the Judge Edward Weinfeld award from the New York County Lawyer’s Association.

Judge, it’s a pleasure to have you before our committee.

MR. MARTIN: Thank you very much, Senator Cardin.

I’m honored to be here and very pleased to have the opportunity to express publicly my high regard and affection for the nominee for attorney general, the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey. I’ve known Mike Mukasey for over 30 years, but I got to know him best when we served together on the Southern District of New York. Michael Mukasey is one of the most decent human beings I know, and I think he possesses the qualities of intellect and humanity that we should want in a person to serve as attorney general of the United States.

We worked together — I was the chair of the clerk’s committee while he was chief judge. We worked closely together during that time, and I saw first hand his compassion and his leadership. During that period our clerk of court died after a long battle with cancer. No one could have been more caring than Judge Mukasey was of the concern of our clerk. No one could have been more compassionate in that situation.

In addition, as Mary Jo has pointed out in some detail, he was an able leader, someone who sought advice and who inspired those around him to do their best. He also had the unenviable task of trying to organize and lead 40 United States district judges, each of whom was appointed for life. Judge Mukasey handled that task with grace, and when he stepped down as chief judge, he left with the respect and admiration of all his colleagues.

To some extent, no individual is qualified to be attorney general. But the same can be said of a United States district judge, because in both cases, you’re faced with areas of the law with which you had no experience in private practice. The breadth of United States law is staggering, and the attorney general and the district judge have to deal with that.

But you learn from that how to listen to experts, to weigh what they have to say and to make judgments as to what is the right thing in the situation.

In addition and most important, for someone who is to become the attorney general, you learn that the law is above politics and that your personal political views have no place in the administration of justice. Michael Mukasey was a superb United States district judge, and I have no doubt that if confirmed, he will be a superb attorney general. He possesses both the intellectual ability and the openness of mind that will serve him well in formulating the policies to be carried out by the attorneys in the Department of Justice.

While I’ve never the pleasure of appearing before Judge Mukasey, I have had the pleasure of reading his opinions. He was a thoughtful and intelligent jurist.

I also have one experience with him that I think demonstrates that he possesses one of the most important qualities for someone who would be the attorney general, and that is the willingness to rethink a position.

Several years ago, I decided a case — and I forget what the issue was — but there was only one opinion on point, and it was by Judge Mukasey. It was a rare case in which I disagreed with him. And I wrote an opinion and said, “I have great respect for Judge Mukasey, but I disagree with him here.” A year or two later, he sent me a copy of an opinion he had just written in a similar case, in which he referred to his prior opinion and my opinion and said, “I’ve changed my mind. I think that the other is the right law.” I don’t know many judges who possess both the unique quality of self-confidence and humility that would allow them to admit publicly that they were changing in a position. But that’s what I think the quality that you have to have if you’re going to lead something like the Department of Justice and be faced on a daily basis with complex and difficult questions to decide.

As you might expect, Judge Mukasey’s nomination has been the subject of considerable comment in the New York legal community. I can tell you that the unanimous views of everybody with whom I have spoke — friends of Judge Mukasey, former colleagues and, I think, particularly important, lawyers who appeared before him — is that Michael Mukasey will provide the type of leadership necessary to ensure the American people have confidence that justice is being administered fairly and with integrity.

Thank you very much.

{Extraneous Deleted}

So let me ask, Ms. White, if I could, and Judge Martin, you know him — how do you think he’s going to fair standing up to a president who wants to do certain things that perhaps the judge thinks is inappropriate?

MS. WHITE: If the circumstance presents itself, my money is on Judge Mukasey.

SEN. CARDIN: (Laughs.)

MS. WHITE: He’s one of the most independent, straight-forward, strong individuals I know, most principled. So if it comes to that, I mean, you know, plainly, he will, you know, also be, you know, clear in his advice as to the right path, but if it comes to that, I have no doubt whatsoever he’ll stand up.

MR. MARTIN: I think serving as United States district judge he’s used to getting — understanding that people have to obey certain laws, and you’ve got the power to enforce them. And I don’t think that Mike Mukasey’s going to have any problem asserting his own views as to what’s right or wrong.

SEN. CARDIN: Well, I think restoring the independence of the Department of Justice is the first order of business. With the political interference, which has been acknowledged and under current investigation, that’s going to be the first order of business. The second is being able to give independent advice, and that’s going to be another challenge. The third is establishing the type of priorities in the office.

{Extraneous Deleted}

SEN. CARDIN: Well, I thank each of you for being here. I think you’ve added to the record in a way that I think it’s important in confirmation process for an attorney general of the United States, and I’ve found it extremely helpful to me to try to put the puzzle pieces together because we are clearly all with the same objective, and that is to see the Department of Justice move forward in its traditional respect from the American people and as important part of the administration. And I think that these confirmation hearings have helped us in that regard, and you all have been part of that, and we thank you very much for your presence, your testimony and, most importantly, for your patience, as we’ve been trying to figure out when this panel would in fact be heard.

The hearing record will remain open for one week in order to be able to supplement the record, and the Judiciary Committee now stands adjourned.

Thank you all.

LOAD-DATE: October 20, 2007

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Dear John,

Mike

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Martin, John  (MC1957)

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