Michael Mukasey

Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 81st United States attorney general from 2007 to 2009 and as a U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1987 to 2006. Mukasey graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history and received a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School. He worked in private practice for two decades and spent four years as an assistant United States attorney in the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1987, after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan, Mukasey was confirmed as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He became Chief Judge in 2000 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2006. In 2007, Mukasey was nominated to the position of United States Attorney General by President George W. Bush following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. Upon his Senate confirmation and swearing-in, Mukasey became the second Jewish attorney general in U.S. history. He left office after Bush's term as president ended.