Call That Bluff, Congress

Bush comes out with a blood-curdling threat to Congress: if they don't confirm Michael Mukasey for attorney general, why then the U.S. will just have to go to bed without any attorney general at all for the remainder of his term. Can justice survive? Will chaos reign? Why don't we find out?

Jacob Sullum's latest on the Mukasey confirmation hearings and some hints as to why he's so important to Bush: his willingness to presume the president can act above and beyond the law.