January 28, 2009 / by emptywheel

 

Whitehouse and Leahy Scold Cornyn and Specter for Asking for No Prosecution Guarantee

The vote on Holder is already done, but in the dregs section as Senators explain why they supported Holder, Whitehouse and Leahy took the opportunity to scold Cornyn and Specter for trying to make Holder commit to no prosecutions for torture. 

Whitehouse said (this was a liveblog approximation):

We came perilously close to seeking a prosecutive commitment from an AG candidate on an issue he would have to make a decision on.  We don’t ask judicial candidates their position on a case, the notion that a person who is a candidate for AG should have to make a prosecutative decision before he has even read the file or before he has even been read into the program at question.

And Leahy said they were thinking "Alice in Wonderland" if they thought any prosecutor would make such a commitment before reviewing the facts of a case. 

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Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/2009/01/28/whitehouse-and-leahy-scold-cornyn-and-specter-for-asking-for-no-prosecution-guarantee/