The man who in all likelihood will replace Alberto Gonzales as our next Attorney General will be klapping al cheit this shabbos, shaking lulav and esrog next week, and dancing with the Torah the next. That's right: Judge Michael Mukasey is an Orthodox Jew.In case you're wondering why you haven't heard that yet, Krum has a theory on that, too. Also, as I noted to Krum, this puts him how many spots away from the Presidency? Is he #4 in line? Either way, hopefully he'll make it past the deliberations without difficulty; yiasher kochacho.
UPDATED: David Linn notes I missed Daled Amos' post on this:
So you want to know more about Bush's appointee to be the new Attorney General?Cool.
Check out the Kehilath Jeshurun Bulletin, September 2004 (page 5):
CHATAN BEREISHIT
Hon. Michael Mukasey
What a privilege it is for us to be able to honor the Hon. Michael Mukasey, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
An alumnus of Ramaz, class of 1959, Judge Mukasey received his B.A. from Columbia in 1963 and an LL.B. degree from Yale Law School in 1967. A recipient of an honorary doctorate from Brooklyn Law School, he also won the Federal Bar Council's Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence.
Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteWow... I'd read a bunch of articles about him, and not one mentioned this. It isn't like the highest echelons of the U.S. government have been teeming with observant Jews... this is big news.
ReplyDeleteHey, hey ,hey it's Uncle Marc!!! (JewishWeek article)
ReplyDeleteHe's farther down than four spots from the President. If the President dies in office, the VP takes his spot and nominates a new VP. If the President and the VP die simmultaneously, then the Speaker of the House will be President, then the president pro tempore of the Senate, and then the members of the cabinet in the order in which their departments were created (AG is fourth down the line).
ReplyDeleteSo, by my calculations, he would be 6th in line to the Presidency, should the President, VP, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Tresury, and Secretary of Defense are all taken out at the same time. And G-d help us if all that ever happens.
Oops, I meant to say that the AG is 8th in line to be President.
ReplyDeleteI meant 4 * 2. :)
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was Pres, VP, Senate Majority Leader, AG or Speaker, Speaker or AG, then the other Secretaries. Ah well. This is why I'm an accountant.
And funny, I started to write a line about how I hope it never would come to that anyway.
Daled Amos posted on this as well a few days back:
ReplyDeletehttp://daledamos.blogspot.com/2007/09/michael-mukasey-attorney-general-and.html
I commented there:
I had heard that Judge Mukasey was shomer shabbos but never was able to confirm it.
I appeared before him on a few occasions and found him to be tough as nails but extremely fair.
Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteSomeone at work mentioned that he heard on the grapevine that Nachum Segal had mentioned to someone that Mukasey had gone to Ramaz.
sfunny. the jta had two pieces on him already and the yeshivishe blogs (yeshiva world, vosizneias) was buzzing about his orthodoxy right away.
ReplyDeleteseveral of the articles did as well.
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ReplyDeleteWORK FROM HOME