Mukasey Nomination Sent to Senate

WASHINGTON — Michael Mukasey's nomination as the nation's next attorney general was sent to the full Senate yesterday as a vehicle for the broader, and more bitter, debate over the legality of the Bush administration's interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects. The retired federal judge was expected to win confirmation easily by the end of next week, but not without significant floor discussion inspired by his refusal to say that so-called waterboarding amounts to illegal torture. Within hours of the Judiciary Committee's 11–8 endorsement of the nomination yesterday, Judge Mukasey's name was invoked in the same sentence as "torture" in a bid for campaign cash on behalf of Democrats.