New Acting AG Named

President Bush’s announcement that he was nominating Michael B. Mukasey to become attorney general was not the surprising part of his press conference this morning.

Mukasey’s nomination was reported this weekend. More surprising was Bush’s announcement that Peter Keisler, who oversaw the department’s civil division, was taking over as acting attorney general.

Solicitor General Paul Clement was previously appointed acting attorney general, and had been named in early reports as a possible successor to Alberto Gonzales, who left the job on Friday.

Bush said Clement was giving up his acting position so he could concentrate on his duties arguing the government’s positions in court.

Keisler had been nominated for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and recently announced he was resigning from the Justice Department. The Swamp, the Baltimore Sun’s blog, concluded that the resignation announcement “probably means he has given up any hope of securing the D.C. appeals court seat to which President Bush appointed him in 2006.”

Keisler oversaw litigation over the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees and approved a decision to reduce the amount sought in the government’s suit against tobacco companies from $130 million to $10 million, ABAJournal.com noted in an earlier post. The tobacco decision prompted the lead attorney on the suit to resign and complain of political interference.