Mukasey Evades Waterboarding Question

The president does have the Constitutional power to wiretap terrorism suspects without a warrant, Michael Mukasey says in a response released today to written questions posed by Senate Judiciary Committee members after his two-day confirmation hearing last week.

However, the U.S. Attorney General nominee apparently did not answer in his response what many committee members seem to see as the key question: whether he is willing expressly to renounce the admitted U.S. practice of waterboarding when interrogating terrorism suspects, according to the Associated Press. The simulated drowning technique is considered by many tantamount to torture.

As discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, there is increasing Democratic criticism of Mukasey's position on the waterboarding issue, in which a Republican leader, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the committee, has now joined.