At an American Bar Association roundtable discussion April 19, former U.S. attorneys general Michael Mukasey, Alberto Gonzales, Dick Thornburgh and Benjamin Civiletti were asked how they used their old post as an effective bully pulpit.
Mukasey said he utilized his position as attorney general from 2007 to 2009 to advance legislation and policies that the George W. Bush administration backed. Thornburgh, who led the U.S. Justice Department from 1988 to 1991, talked about how he used his office to drum up support for the Americans with Disabilities Act, which President George H.W. Bush signed into law in 1990. Civiletti said his posting as attorney general from 1979 to 1981 allowed him to promote the federal judiciary and the DOJ’s community service efforts during the Jimmy Carter administration.
