Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 81st United States attorney general from 2007 to 2009 and as a U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1987 to 2006.
Mukasey graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history and received a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School. He worked in private practice for two decades and spent four years as an assistant United States attorney in the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1987, after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan, Mukasey was confirmed as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He became Chief Judge in 2000 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2006.
In 2007, Mukasey was nominated to the position of United States Attorney General by President George W. Bush following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. Upon his Senate confirmation and swearing-in, Mukasey became the second Jewish attorney general in U.S. history. He left office after Bush's term as president ended.
Early life and education Mukasey was born on July 28, 1941, in New York City. His father was born near Baranavichy in Belarus and emigrated to the U.S. in 1921. Mukasey graduated in 1959 from the Ramaz School, a Modern Orthodox Jewish prep school in Manhattan.
After high school, Mukasey studied history at Columbia University, where he was the editorials editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator and graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts. While there, he may have been a member of the Sachems. Mukasey then attended Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Laws.
Early career Mukasey practiced law for 20 years in New York City, serving for four years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in which he worked with Rudolph Giuliani. From 1967 to 1972, he was an associate with the law firm of Webster Sheffield Fleischmann Hitchcock & Brookfield, later known as Webster & Sheffield. In 1976, he joined the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Mukasey began teaching at Columbia Law School in the spring of 1993.
Judicial career On July 27, 1987, Mukasey was nominated to be a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan by President Ronald Reagan, to a seat vacated by Abraham David Sofaer. Mukasey was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 6, 1987, and received his commission on November 9, 1987; he took the bench in 1988. He served in that position for 18 years, including tenure as Chief Judge from March 2000 through July 2006.
During his service on the bench, Mukasey presided over the criminal prosecution of Omar Abdel Rahman and El Sayyid Nosair, whom he sentenced to life in prison for a plot to blow up the United Nations and other Manhattan landmarks uncovered during an investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. During that case, Mukasey spoke out against leaks by law enforcement officials regarding the facts of the case allegedly aimed at prejudicing potential jurors against the defendants. During that case, Mukasey also refused to recuse himself, warning that the demand for his recusal would "disqualify not only an obscure district judge such as the author of this opinion, but also Justices Brandeis and Frankfurter ... each having been both a Jew and a Zionist."
Mukasey also presided over the trial of Jose Padilla, ruling that the U.S. citizen and alleged terrorist could be held as an enemy combatant but was entitled to see his lawyers. Mukasey also was the judge in the litigation between developer Larry Silverstein and several insurance companies arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center. In a 2003 suit, he issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Motion Picture Association of America from enforcing its ban against the distribution of screener copies of films during awards season, ruling that the ban was likely an unlawful restraint of trade unfair to independent filmmakers.
In June 2003, Democratic New York Senator Charles Schumer submitted Mukasey's name, along with four other Republicans or Republican appointees, as a suggestion for Bush to consider for nomination to the Supreme Court. The others were Reagan-appointed federal appellate judges Ann Williams and Stanley Marcus, Bush-appointed Fifth Circuit judge Edward Prado, and Arlen Specter, the then Republican senator from Pennsylvania.
On October 14, 2004, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Mukasey reversed his September 2002 decision and dismissed a case in which plaintiffs in twenty consolidated actions sued the Italian insurance company Generali S.p.A. (Generali), seeking damages for nonpayment of insurance proceeds to beneficiaries of policies purchased by Holocaust victims before the end of World War II., citing In re: Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Holocaust Ins. Litig., 2004 WL 2311298 at *5 (S.D.N.Y. October 14, 2004). In so ruling, Mukasey gave deference to "a federal executive branch policy favoring voluntary resolution of Holocaust-era insurance claims."
Retirement Although Article III of the U.S. Constitution entitles federal judges to hold their appointments for life, in June 2006 Mukasey announced that he would retire as a judge and return to private practice at the end of the summer. On August 1, 2006, he was succeeded as Chief Judge of the Southern District by Judge Kimba Wood, entering senior status on the same day. Mukasey's retirement took effect on September 9, 2006.
U.S. Attorney General On the March 18, 2007, episode of Meet the Press, Senator Chuck Schumer suggested Mukasey as a potential Attorney General nominee who, "by [his] reputation and career, shows that [he] put rule of law first." Schumer also suggested former Justice Department officials Larry Thompson and James Comey.
On September 17, 2007, Mukasey was nominated by President Bush to replace Alberto Gonzales as US Attorney General. At his nomination press conference with the President, Mukasey stated, "The task of helping to protect our security, which the Justice Department shares with the rest of our government, is not the only task before us. The Justice Department must also protect the safety of our children, the commerce that assures our prosperity, and the rights and liberties that define us as a nation."President Bush Announces Judge Michael Mukasey as Nominee for Attorney General, White House press release, dated September 17, 2007. Accessed September 18, 2007.
Because Mukasey would likely serve only until the end of President Bush's term in January 2009, the White House hoped Mukasey would be confirmed by the Senate by October 8, 2007. At first, a quick confirmation seemed likely. Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was pleased that Mukasey was committed to a new administrative rule that would reduce the influence of the White House and other politicians on Justice Department investigations and personnel. This concession sought to avoid problems that arose during the controversy over the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys under the previous Attorney General's tenure.
However, during confirmation hearings, controversy arose over Mukasey's responses to questions about torture. Mukasey refused to state a clear legal position on the interrogation technique known as waterboarding (in which water is poured over a rag on the prisoner's face to simulate drowning). Leahy and the other nine Democratic committee members indicated to Mukasey, via letter, that they were "deeply troubled by your refusal to state unequivocally that waterboarding is illegal during your confirmation hearing..."Leahy, Patrick, and nine other Senators. Letter to Mukasey, Oct 23, 2007. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
It appeared that Mukasey may have been concerned about the potential pursuit of government employees or agents, and their authorizing superiors, in American or foreign courts under criminal charges, when responding to the Senate Judiciary committee questions. In describing the issue's challenges to the Bush administration, The New York Times quoted Scott L. Silliman, director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University, as saying about such court cases, which could ultimately reach the president: "You would ask not just who carried it out, but who specifically approved it."
However, Robert M. Chesney, of Wake Forest University School of Law, and other national security specialists have pointed out that prosecution within the United States would be impeded by laws adopted since 2005 which permit safe-harbor protections to interrogators for governmentally authorized actions. It was believed that secret Justice Department legal opinions approved waterboarding and other procedures officially called "harsh interrogation techniques".
By November 1, 2007, five senators – Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Joseph Biden of Delaware, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont – in addition to Leahy had announced their intention to vote against Mukasey's confirmation due to concerns about his stance on torture. Nevertheless, on November 6 the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed the nomination of Mukasey, by an 11–8 vote, and sent his confirmation on to the full Senate. Two days later, the Senate confirmed Mukasey by a 53–40 vote. The tight vote was the narrowest margin to confirm an attorney general in more than 50 years. Mukasey was sworn in at a private ceremony on November 9, 2007.
In 2009, legal ethics complaints were filed against Mukasey and other Bush administration attorneys for their roles in advocating torture.For primary source documents, see Velvet Revolution website . For commentary, see David Swanson, "UPDATE: Disbarring 12 Torture Lawyers: Broad Coalition Of Groups Files Disciplinary Complaints Against Twelve Bush Administration Lawyers Who Advocated Torture Of Detainee", May 18, 2009, at Daily Kos blog and Dana Milbank, "Etch-a-Sketch: Punishing Bush Officials", The Washington Post op-ed, May 18, 2009, .Scott Shane, "Advocacy Groups Seek Disbarment of Ex-Bush Administration Lawyers", The New York Times, May 18, 2009, found at NY Times website. Accessed May 18, 2009.Nedra Pickler, "Complaint seeks disbarment of Bush administration lawyers linked to torture memos", AP (Associated Press), May 18, 2009, Star Trubune website . Accessed May 18, 2009.
Later career On September 12, 2006, following Mukasey's retirement from the bench, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler announced that Mukasey had rejoined the firm as a partner.
As of 2025, he is of counsel at the international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton.
Mukasey, pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), is registered as working on behalf of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Mukasey is the recipient of several awards, most notably the Learned Hand Medal of the Federal Bar Council.
Relationship with Rudy Giuliani Mukasey and Rudolph Giuliani have been friends since working at the same law firm in the early 1970s.Wayne Barrett, "'No Skeletons in My Closet!': Oh yeah? How Michael Mukasey and Bernie Kerik are haunting Rudy's run" , "Village Voice", October 30, 2007
Mukasey administered the oath of office to Mayor-elect Giuliani in 1994 and 1998.