In his NRO essay from last week (published, appropriately, on 9/11), Andy McCarthy—who knows Judge Michael Mukasey very well—made the affirmative case for Mukasey’s nomination as Attorney General. Andy also linked to two impressive Wall Street Journal op-eds by Mukasey on the Patriot Act and on broader lessons from the Padilla trial. All I will add is that my own due-diligence inquiry reinforces Andy’s assessment. (I won’t discuss the details of my inquiry, so I’ll just have to leave it to readers to credit or dismiss my judgment as they see fit.)

I reiterate that I am not making any comparative assessment of Mukasey vis-à-vis the other candidates. The confirmation hearing will of course provide a much fuller picture of the nominee, and it’s certainly possible that my early favorable assessment of the nominee will change. But I’d be surprised.