Reporters Committee released analysis of Mukasey’s First Amendment and freedom of information background

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press today released its “Evaluation of the likely impact of Attorney General Nominee Michael Mukasey on Press Freedoms and the Public’s Right to Know.”

The Reporters Committee staff researched Mukasey’s performance as a partner with the New York firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and later as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1987 until 2006.

Mukasey has a reputation as a strong law-and-order judge. But his early career as a reporter and lawyer for media companies is not well known. His learning curve on issues of importance to the media will not be steep.

“Judge Mukasey is the first attorney general nominee in many years to have a firm grounding in the law of the press,” said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “We’re optimistic that this will lead to a justice department that is more open to public scrutiny.”

The report is available at: www.rcfp.org/news/documents/20070920-evaluation.html