Leahy To Vote 'no' On Mukasey

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will oppose former judge Michael Mukasey's nomination as attorney general. The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote Tuesday on Mukasey.

Here are excerpts from the speech Leahy will give this afternoon:

"There are fundamental issues that require moral and legal clarity, and the willingness to act on our convictions -- and this is one of them. The United States does not torture. The United States does not inflict cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. This is part of the moral fiber of our country and our historical place as a world leader on human rights, and it has long been fixed in our laws, our constitution, and our values.

There may be interrogation techniques that require close examination and extensive briefings. Waterboarding is not among them. No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture. Waterboarding was used at least as long ago as the Spanish Inquisition. We prosecuted Japanese war criminals for waterboarding after World War II.

If an American was captured and waterboarded, would we consider it torture and want to raise bloody hell about it? Of course we would.

The America I grew up in has been a beacon to the world, standing for human rights and calling out the tyrants and despots who abuse them. Like Americans across the land, when we were growing up, Vermonters knew instinctively that it is hard to defend the moral high ground by taking the low road.

I am eager to restore strong leadership and independence to the Department of Justice. I like Michael Mukasey. I wish that I could support his nomination. But I cannot. America needs to be certain and confident of the bedrock principle – deeply embedded in our laws and our values -- that no one, not even the President, is above the law. "