Mukasey’s Elmer Fudd Defense

I have certainly heard from folks about my reference to Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s explanation for not taking action in the political hiring scandal as the “Elmer Fudd defense”, click here. Mukasey stated that, once again, he would not take action in this matter, but suggested it was due to the fact that the culprits left the Justice Department before he could take action. The problem is that he has blocked action in matters involving clear crimes with officials still in office.

In his speech to the ABA, Mukasey stated that no action would be taken against those responsible for political hiring at the Justice Department, click here. The suggestion is that, if these varmints were not so fast, he could have done something despite his record on non-action in every other area of alleged criminality by Bush officials.

Mukasey explained further that reviewing those hired under the political litmus test would be unfair. This is clearly true with regard to line DOJ people, but Mukasey did not deal with the immigration judges who were hired for their political qualifications and are still handing down rulings.

He also told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, “Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws.” The problem is that he is barring efforts to investigate clear crimes in the torture program and the unlawful surveillance programs, even after rulings from federal court clearly establishing the foundation for criminal investigations. One federal court has already ruled that the president’s domestic surveillance program was clearly unlawful.