Legal Commentary

Critiquing Holder for Attorney General

By Jeralyn

Looseheadprop, a former federal prosecutor who writes at Firedoglake, makes a last-ditch effort to derail the nomination of Eric Holder for Attorney General.

I agree Obama should have picked someone different, but for for much different reasons -- his position on drug offenses, his Biden-like endorsement of draconian crime bills and his closeness to Obama (a weaker but still troublesome comparison can be made to Bush and Alberto Gonzales) but I think Obama is so beholden to Holder for his work on his campaign, from the Veep Selection Committee on down, that it's hopeless. He sailed through his 1997 confirmation hearing for Deputy Attorney General. As I wrote here and here, [More...]

As for who should be Attorney General, I hope it is not Eric Holder or Janet Napolitano or any high-level official of the Obama campaign. One cannot serve two masters. The Attorney General must represent the people and when he or she is too close to the President, we get into trouble. Think, Alberto Gonzales or John Mitchell.

As Eric Holder himself said in 2006:

"The attorney general is the one Cabinet member who's different from all the rest," said Eric Holder, who was a deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration. "The attorney general serves first the people, but also serves the president. There has to be a closeness at the same time there needs to be distance."

There isn't enough distance between Obama and Holder to foster an independent Justice Department. But, it will still be better than a Republican Justice Department.

A critical choice will be Deputy Attorney General. While Holder will lead the department, it will be the Deputy Attorney General who runs it. Let's see who that will be.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 29, 2008 (boomark / email).