[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7688-S7689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    NOMINATION OF ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., TO BE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased today that we are finally 
voting on the nomination of Mr. Eric Holder, nominated to serve as 
Deputy Attorney General. Mr. Holder was reported out of the Judiciary 
Committee unanimously on June 24. I support Mr. Holder for this 
position, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of his 
confirmation.
  This is a position which is vitally important to the efficient and 
effective management of the Justice Department, as well as to this 
committee and its many dealings with the Department. The Deputy 
Attorney General plays a critical role in the day-to-day oversight, 
management, and administration of the Justice Department, typically 
handling the Department's most important and sensitive matters. The 
deputy has ultimate responsibility for the office of the Solicitor 
General, who represents the United States before the Supreme Court, as 
well as all of the Department's civil and criminal divisions, 
including, for example, the civil rights, tax and antitrust divisions, 
the criminal division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and all 
U.S. attorneys. In short, a broad array of policy and law-enforcement 
decisions that are critical not just to our legal system but to the 
Nation as a whole, ultimately pass through the Deputy Attorney General.
  Mr. Holder comes to us with a distinguished record in the law and in 
the administration of justice. After graduating from Columbia Law 
School in 1976, he served for 12 years as a prosecutor in the public 
integrity section of Justice Department's Criminal Division, after 
which he served for 5 years as a associate judge for the District of 
Columbia Superior Court. Since 1993, Mr. Holder has served as U.S. 
attorney for the District of Columbia, our Nation's largest U.S. 
Attorney's Office, which employs over 300 attorneys and prosecutes over 
10,000 cases each year. I believe these positions provide especially 
useful experience for a person who would serve as Deputy Attorney 
General.
  I would like to emphasize how important it is to the Senate and the 
Judiciary Committee in particular, on both sides of the aisle, to have 
a close and cooperative working relationship with the Deputy Attorney 
General. I believe that one of the Department's greatest assets over 
the past several years has been its former deputy, Jamie Gorelick, who 
successfully fostered and maintained a cooperative, honest, and 
responsive relationship with this committee. I cannot overestimate how 
valuable this relationship has been in the virtually daily interactions 
between the committee and the Department, and I am hopeful, and 
confident, that Eric Holder will, like his predecessor, work closely 
with the committee to ensure that the Department maintains the highest 
level of professionalism and independence in its commitment to 
enforcing our Nation's laws. I have spoken with Mr. Holder on numerous 
occasions since his nomination, and am struck that, in addition to 
being eminently qualified for this position, he is a candid, forthright 
individual of character and integrity who will be a positive force in 
steering the Justice Department and in seeing to it that our laws our 
faithfully and impartially enforced. The Nation expects and deserves 
nothing less, and I believe they will get as much from Mr. Holder.
  While I have often given Attorney General Reno due credit for the 
fine work and accomplishments of the Justice Department, not the least 
of which is the recent trial and conviction of Timothy McVeigh, the 
Department, like any large agency, also has its share of problems, many 
of which fall on the Deputy Attorney General's desk.
  Moreover, the Department has been, and inevitably will be, the 
subject of some rather intense political pressure, and, quite frankly, 
I am somewhat disturbed by a growing sense that, in a number of 
instances, there is at least the appearance that political pressures 
may have won out over the fair and impartial enforcement of the law. 
After a rather public display by the White House of its displeasure 
that the Attorney General had previously sought the appointment of four 
independent counsels, we now see the Attorney General steadfastly 
refusing to appoint an independent counsel to conduct the campaign 
finance investigation--the one case where an independent counsel is 
most called for to ensure public confidence in the investigation and 
the Department itself. And, after the Attorney General expressly 
adopted one interpretation of the independent counsel statute, and I 
challenged that interpretation, we now receive a letter explaining that 
she has, notwithstanding statements to the contrary, been applying the 
same standard I articulated. The Justice Department issues bizarre 
statements seeking to put particular spins on information disclosed by 
Chairman Thompson in connection with the campaign fundraising hearings. 
The Justice Department has filed briefs taking rather dubious positions 
in politically sensitive cases, including its appeal brief in the 
litigation over California's proposition 209, and its very recent brief 
defending Mrs. Clinton's invocation of a governmental attorney client 
privilege in response to independent counsel Starr's request for 
certain documents. And the FBI Director is in the position of refusing 
to brief the White House on national security matters because of its 
pending investigation. While each of these instances, standing alone, 
might have a legitimate explanation, taken together they create an 
appearance that politics is influencing what should be a neutral, 
independent enforcement of our Nation's laws.

[[Page S7689]]

  Public confidence in our legal system, and in our Government itself, 
demands nothing short of this.
  Mr. Holder has given me his commitment to maintaining his own 
independent judgment, and to seeing to it that the law is fairly and 
impartially interpreted and enforced as it should be, even when doing 
so may lead to results that are not politically expedient. That 
commitment will be as important as ever for the Department as it faces 
numerous challenges in the coming years. I believe Mr. Holder will 
remain true to his word, and urge my colleagues to support him.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I commend the President on his nomination 
of Eric H. Holder, Jr., and am delighted that the Senate is acting to 
confirm this nominee to be Deputy Attorney General of the United 
States.
  It was with concerted effort that Senator Hatch and I worked to 
ensure that Eric Holder was reported by the Judiciary Committee and 
ready for Senate confirmation to the important position of Deputy 
Attorney General of the United States before the Senate adjourned 3 
weeks ago.
  The President's nomination of Mr. Holder to the second highest 
position at the Department of Justice was reported to the Senate 
without a single dissent on June 24. This nomination could and should 
have been approved by the Senate before it adjourned for the last 
extended recess for the Fourth of July. This nomination is strongly 
supported by Senator Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
  There was and is no Democratic hold on this nomination. The delay on 
the Republican side in considering this nomination remains unexplained. 
I urged on July 10 and July 11 that he not be held hostage to other 
nominations. I am glad we have finally--finally after 3 weeks--freed 
this nomination.
  Eric Holder has proven his dedication to effective law enforcement. 
As a former prosecutor myself, I appreciate Mr. Holder's distinguished 
career in law enforcement.
  Shortly after his graduation from Columbia Law School, Mr. Holder 
joined the Department of Justice as part of the Attorney General's 
Honors Program. He was assigned to the newly formed public integrity 
section in 1976, where he worked for 12 years investigating and 
prosecuting corruption. While at the public integrity section, Mr. 
Holder participated in a number of prosecutions and appeals involving 
such defendants as the State Treasurer of Florida, a former Ambassador 
to the Dominican Republic, a local judge in Philadelphia, an assistant 
U.S. attorney in New York City, an FBI agent, and a ``capo'' in an 
organized crime family. He received a number of awards for outstanding 
performance and special achievement from the Department of Justice.
  In 1988, President Reagan nominated and the Senate confirmed Mr. 
Holder to be an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District 
of Columbia, where he served for the next 5 years. In his 5 years on 
the bench, Judge Holder presided over hundreds of criminal trials. In 
1993, President Clinton nominated and the Senate confirmed Eric Holder 
to the important post of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. As 
United States Attorney for one of the largest U.S. Attorney's offices 
in the Nation, Mr. Holder has supervised 300 lawyers involved in 
criminal, civil, and appellate cases. He has functioned as both the 
local district attorney and the Federal prosecutor. He has been active 
in community affairs. For more than a decade, he has been a member of 
Concerned Black Men, an organization seeking to help young people in 
the District of Columbia. He is involved in a number of the group's 
activities, including the efficacy program and the pregnancy prevention 
effort. He has participated in the D.C. Street Law program and is 
active in the See Forever Foundation and the National Foundation for 
Teaching Entrepreneurship. He is cochair of Project PACT to reduce 
youth violence and has been instrumental in the U.S. Attorney's 
Office's outreach efforts to the D.C. community.
  In 1994 he received the Pioneer Award from the National Black 
Prosecutors Association. In 1995 his contributions were recognized when 
he received awards from the District of Columbia Bar Association, the 
Greater Washington Urban League, the American Jewish Congress, and Phi 
Beta Sigma fraternity. Last year he received awards from the D.C. 
Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement 
Executives, George Washington University, Columbia College, the 
Federation of Citizens Associations of D.C., Omega Psi Phi fraternity, 
the Brotherhood of Shiloh Men, McDonalds and the Asian Pacific Bar 
Association.
  I look forward to working with him in his new position as Deputy 
Attorney General. I regret the unnecessary delays that have stalled 
this important nomination for the last 3 weeks on the Senate Executive 
Calendar.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Eric H. Holder, Jr., of the District of 
Columbia, to be Deputy Attorney General? On this question, the yeas and 
nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced-- yeas 100, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 188 Ex.]

                               YEAS--100

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Faircloth
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kempthorne
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to reconsider the nomination is 
laid on the table. The President will be immediately notified of the 
Senate's confirmation.

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