Michael Bernard Mukasey (/mjuːˈkeɪzi/; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009. Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, graduated from Columbia College 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, President Ronald Reagan nominated Mukasey to serve as a District Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He took the bench in 1988, became the Chief Judge in 2000 and served until his retirement in 20