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Justice Sanders says he didn't heckle A.G. during speech

• Published November 24, 2008

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Although the rumor that Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders heckled U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey just before he collapsed is making its rounds on the blogosphere, Sanders says that's bunk.

Mukasey is back at work, but Michelle Malkin appears to have started the Sanders speculation with her article "Who Heckled Attorney General Michael Mukasey?" Here's the top bit:

The rest of the post continues along those lines. I talked to Sanders today, and he said he was at the gathering of the Federalist Society at which Mukasey collapsed mid-speech (he was released from a hospital and returned to work). But Sanders said he went back to his hotel before Mukasey spoke.

I asked him specifically about Malkin's suggestion that he heckled Mukasey.

"As to that, I don’t have any comment. But I wasn’t there when he collapsed. I heard it on television the next morning, I was very sorry to hear it," Sanders said.

He directed me to a full video of the meeting, and I watched it (Malkin also linked to it). No heckling can be heard. (The audio feed is clearly through the podium microphone, so maybe there was heckling in the back of the room?)

UPDATE: With better-quality equpiment you can hear some one in the back of the room shout "Tyrant, You're a Tyrant!" at the 17-minute, 28-second mark.