NEW LEADERSHIP AT JUSTICE

Senate Democrats were thrilled Wednesday to receive Attorney General-nominee Michael B. Mukasey; on Thursday, they were decidedly less thrilled, suggesting they should take their time in deciding whether to confirm the president’s nominee.

On his first day of questioning, Mr. Mukasey was asked whether the president had the authority to allow harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists. He said, “We are parties to a treaty that outlaws torture. Torture is unlawful under the laws of this country. The president has said that in an executive order. But beyond all of those legal restrictions, we don’t torture – not simply because it’s against this or that law or against this or that treaty. It is not what this country is about. It is not what this country stands for. It’s antithetical to everything this country stands for.”

Compare that with the contention by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the need to obtain information from terrorists takes the Geneva Convention’s “strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.”

Thursday, Mr. Mukasey, a former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, avoided answering whether a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding was torture. He said only, “If it is torture as defined by the Constitution, or defined by constitutional standards, it can’t be authorized.”

Also Wednesday, Mr. Mukasey offered his opinion on politics within the Justice Department: “Partisan politics plays no part in either the bringing of charges or the timing of charges.”

After the finely parsed, carefully evasive testimony of Mr. Gonzales, beginning with his confirmation hearing, the straightforward comments of Mr. Mukasey were reassuring and a reminder of how a balance of power between the executive and legislative branches brings pragmatism instead of ideology. However, with the reputation of the Justice Department harmed over the last couple of years, the Senate should look to the White House to appoint a person who can restore public confidence in the role of the attorney general.

It shouldn’t bother Senate Democrats that Mr. Mukasey is conservative who has spoken in favor of aggressive legal strategies used to hold terrorism suspects. Their question is whether Mr. Mukasey’s history suggests a lawyer intent on staying within the laws’ bounds, rather than trying to wish them into a new shape. That may take a few days to answer.