Mukasey Would Enforce New Torture Law, Senator Says

Michael Mukasey has told Chuck Schumer he would enforce a law specifically prohibiting waterboarding and other torture practices, the senator writes in today's Times. The AG nominee's personal assurance and respect for the rule of law earned him the New York Democrat’s support in this morning's 11-8 Judiciary Committee vote, which advanced the nomination to the full Senate.

“From a Bush nominee, this is no small commitment,” Schumer writes, noting that Mukasey will be preferable to the interim, unconfirmed AG President Bush has threatened to appoint if Mukasey is rejected. Sending a statement about torture by rejecting Mukasey is tempting, he says, but if “in six months waterboarding has continued unabated, that victory will seem much less valuable.” (More Michael Mukasey stories.)