ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

"A divided Senate narrowly confirmed former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey last night as the 81st attorney general, giving the nominee the lowest level of congressional support of any Justice Department leader in the past half-century," the Washington Post reported.

Mukasey, 66, had outraged many lawmakers and human rights groups by repeatedly refusing to classify waterboarding, a simulated-drowning technique, as torture. His few Democratic supporters said last night that, although they are troubled by his equivocal views on waterboarding, they believe Mukasey represents the best possibility for change at the troubled Justice Department . . . .

The fractured tally signals that Mukasey will face a deeply skeptical . . . Congress as he takes over at Justice, which has been demoralized and emptied of senior leadership in the wake of scandals. . . .

The challenges facing Mukasey over the next 14 months are severe, from rebuilding confidence at Justice to crafting new strategies to combat a growing violent-crime problem. Mukasey has also pledged to review the Justice Department's controversial legal opinions on torture and detention policies, and he will have to cope with the outcome of a series of internal investigations into alleged misdeeds by Gonzales and his aides.