After being pressed by President Bush and Attorney General Mukasey, Senator Richard Durbin has finally removed his hold on the nomination of highly-regarded U.S. District Judge Mark Filip to become Deputy Attorney General. This should clear the way for Judge Filip’s confirmation to proceed with due haste.
This hold was an irresponsible elevation of brass-knuckles politics and senatorial privilege over constitutional responsibility. Judiciary Committee Democrats repeatedly assured us while they were whipping former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that what they really cared about was the Justice Department’s ability to function competently. Yet, Sen. Durbin was preventing the Department from filling it’s second highest office with a thoroughly competent nominee over concerns about — of course — waterboarding: a practice used against only three detainees, not used in about five years, and known about by top lawmakers (including top Democrats) while it was being used. And, whatever one thinks of the controversy over coercive interrogation tactics, it had utterly nothing to do with Judge Filip.
A good episode to keep in mind next time you hear all that palaver about how shocked, shocked we should all be that anyone would “politicize” the Justice Department.