... And he showed little sympathy to people held as material witnesses after the Sept. 11 attacks.

...


Judge Mukasey has attracted occasional criticism for what was said to be a hardhearted and overly formal application of the law.

In 2004, for instance, he dismissed a class-action suit against an Italian insurance company brought by the estates and survivors of people who died or lost property in the Holocaust.

He said he was deferring to \ufffda federal executive branch policy favoring voluntary resolution of Holocaust-era insurance claims\ufffd through a private commission.

Thane Rosenbaum, who teaches law at Fordham University and is the author of \ufffdThe Myth of Moral Justice,\ufffd was critical of that decision and said it was suggestive of how Judge Mukasey might approach the job of attorney general.

\ufffdThe fact that Mukasey ruled in favor of executive pre-emption in a case that was crying out for legal and moral relief,\ufffd Mr. Rosenbaum said, \ufffdmight reveal his sentiments when it comes to the ultimate power of the presidency, for instance, in fighting terrorism.\ufffd

Last year, when the Justice Department sought his permission to force a mentally troubled defendant to take psychotropic drugs to render her competent to stand trial, Judge Mukasey expressed a visceral disgust for the idea, even though the Supreme Court had endorsed it.