Nat Hentoff

Mukasey’s Contempt for Law

[audio:http://wiredispatch.com/charles/aw2007-11-08 nathentoff.mp3]

Civil libertarian Nat Hentoff discusses the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General, the Military Commissions Act’s immunity provisions, the unitary executive theory, Mukasey’s view that the Constitutional system is “inadequate” for dealing with the terrorist menace, Mukasey’s former job as adviser on the Constitution to Rudy Giuliani, the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Kahled el-Masri’s and Maher Arar’s torture cases in the name of the State’s secrets privilege, his belief that Bush has more contempt for the law since any president since Woodrow Wilson and his belief in the unique threat of “Islamo-fascism.”

MP3 here. (14:47)

In addition to his weekly Village Voice column, Nat Hentoff writes on music for the Wall Street Journal. Among other publications in which his work has appeared are the New York Times, the New Republic, Commonweal, the Atlantic and the New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25 years. Hentoff’s views on journalistic responsibility and the rights of Americans to write, think and speak freely are expressed in his weekly column, and he has come to be acknowledged as a foremost authority in the area of First Amendment defense. He is also an expert on the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court, student rights and education.

2 thoughts on “Nat Hentoff”

  1. Did Mr. Hentoff tout the Constitutional bona fides of Senator Biden? Thinking that maybe I was mistaken, I checked his voting record on the odious Patriot Act. Joe “Constitution” Biden voted yea:

    http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00313

    That egregious piece of legislation is all one needs to know. Heck, maybe the guy regrets his vote. The way it was shoved through Congress without a moment’s consideration (no one had a chance to even read the damn thing!) cannot be ignored. Has he made any attempt to repeal it? I seriously doubt it.

    To be fair, he did vote nay on the MCA and the awful Lieberman-Kyl amendment.

    Now if he could only apply the same kind of Constitutional thinking to domestic matters rather than treating the U.S. Treasury like a slush fund for his cronies….

  2. I never liked Nat Hentoff…his views are too “New York liberal” for me.

    And the fact that he’s for Biden? The guy who wants to crack into 3 chunks? F**kin’ insanity! That should make the Iraqis–no wait–the Likuds very happy.

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