Democrats Extend Debate on Gonzales

Angered over the administration’s policies on torture, Senate Democrats on Tuesday extended debate over the nomination of Alberto R. Gonzales as U.S. attorney general, delaying his expected confirmation until at least Thursday.

Using one of the few parliamentary tools available to the minority party, the Democratic leadership insisted on holding at least 10 hours of debate over Gonzales, whom they accused of taking part in administration efforts to condone the use of torture on prisoners.

“How can the Senate possibly approve the nomination of Mr. Gonzales as attorney general of the United States, the official who symbolizes our respect for the rule of law, when Mr. Gonzales is the official in the Bush administration who, as White House counsel, advised the president that torture was an acceptable method of interrogation in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq?” asked Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The move was the latest in a string of gestures by Senate Democrats, who had grown incensed over the torture issue as two Cabinet nominees -- Gonzales and recently confirmed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- fielded questions about memos approving harsh treatment of some prisoners.

Democrats initially had praised Gonzales’ nomination, seeing the mild-mannered former Texas Supreme Court judge as a welcome change from the combative John Ashcroft, whom Gonzales would replace.

But Gonzales angered Democrats on the Judiciary Committee -- first by what they considered evasive answers during his confirmation hearings last month, and second by his answers to written questions in which he often responded that he had not conducted a search for requested documents.

“The documents we want may exist, but he’s not going to look for them. There’s nothing more arrogant to say to this body,” Kennedy said Tuesday, his voice raised in anger. “It’s an insult not just to the Senate, but to the American people.”

Republicans rose to Gonzales’ defense, arguing that his job as White House counsel was to advise the president, not contradict the Justice Department.

“He has been very emphatic about his personal opposition to torture and about the opposition of the administration to torture,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the Judiciary Committee chairman.

“This White House has been very cautious -- not just this White House but previous White Houses -- about not telling the Department of Justice what to say or what not to say, because that would be politicizing the process,” Specter said.

With Democrats holding 44 of the Senate’s 100 seats, Gonzales’ confirmation appears a certainty when it reaches the floor -- most likely Thursday. But according to Senate custom, there is no limit on debate, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) requested 10 hours for Democrats.

Republican leaders have not said how long they would like to debate, but they are likely to request several hours to counteract the Democrats.

By contrast, when the Senate considered Rice’s nomination last month, Democrats asked for only four hours of debate. Rice was confirmed by a vote of 85 to 13, the lowest level of support for a secretary of State in more than a century.

Reid said he expected 25 to 30 Democrats to vote against Gonzales, who would be the first Latino attorney general. That is not enough to sustain a filibuster, which could postpone the nomination indefinitely.

“As far as I’m concerned, this torture that’s gone on in Iraq/Afghanistan is going to be something that’s going to haunt this country for years to come,” Reid said. If U.S. military forces are captured, he added, “who can imagine what might happen to them after the example that we have set as Americans with torture?”

During debate on the Senate floor, a consistent theme among Democratic opponents was that Gonzales was too blindingly loyal to the president to serve as attorney general.

“He indicated that he views the president to have the power to override our law, apparently to immunize others to perform what would otherwise be unlawful acts,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. “The rule of law applies to the president, even this president.”

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California argued that the position of attorney general deserved more scrutiny and less deference from Congress than other Cabinet nominations.

“Though the attorney general serves under the president, he must independently interpret the laws as written by Congress, to truly be the chief law enforcement officer,” Feinstein said. “I cannot emphasize this enough. The Department of Justice must be independent.”

Much of the debate focused on an August 2002 memo, prepared by the Justice Department at Gonzales’ request, contending that harsh interrogation of prisoners was permissible as long as it did not cause organ failure or death. Gonzales also wrote a memo to the president arguing that the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war did not apply to prisoners from Afghanistan.

“The administration’s shameful disregard for our laws and treaties on torture has lowered the bar for the protection of our own soldiers,” Kennedy argued. “It has violated the military’s long-standing ‘golden rule’: Treat captured combatants in the manner we expect our own soldiers to be treated. What can Mr. Gonzales possibly say to a country that justifies its torture of a U.S. soldier by citing Mr. Gonzales’ own record of support for it?”