Mukasey confirmation hearings in a week

Confirmation hearings for Michael Mukasey, President Bush's nominee for attorney general, will begin Oct. 17, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said Wednesday.

Leahy, D-Vt., said the proceedings will center on the Justice Department's "plummeting morale" under the stewardship of Alberto Gonzales, who resigned in August. Democrats and some Republicans have made clear that other topics on the agenda include the administration's legal basis for Bush's controversial eavesdropping program and the extent to which Mukasey would allow the White House to dictate political decisions to the traditionally independent federal law enforcement agency.

Mukasey, nominated Sept. 17, has told several senators in private meetings that he would fire any Justice Department employee who takes calls from lawmakers about ongoing criminal matters without his approval. Such communications between members of Congress, the White House and the Justice Department became the basis for Congress' probe into whether Gonzales' purge of nine federal prosecutors had been politically motivated.

Mukasey, 66, was nominated to a federal judgeship by then-President Reagan. His Senate confirmation as attorney general is expected to face scant opposition.