[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 177 (Thursday, November 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10697-S10698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF ERIC HOLDER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to speak about some of the things we 
have seen recently in the press about the President-elect nominating 
Eric H. Holder, Jr. to be Attorney General.
  Eric Holder would make an outstanding and historic nominee if 
President-elect Obama were to choose to nominate him. Mr. Holder would 
be the first African American to be nominated and confirmed to serve as 
Attorney General, the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the 
country. But far more important than that, he would be as qualified a 
person as could be found in either party in this country.
  Over the last 8 years, political manipulation and influence from 
partisan political operatives in the White House have undercut the 
Department of Justice and its mission, severely undermined the morale 
of its career professionals, and shaken public confidence in our 
Federal justice system. We need the new Attorney General to be a person 
not only of integrity and experience, but also somebody who can inspire 
the thousands of hard-working prosecutors, agents and employees who do 
their best every day to enforce the law and promote justice without 
regard to partisan politics. We need an Attorney General in the mode of 
Robert H. Jackson, and Eric Holder fits that mold.
  Investigations by the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House 
and by the Department of Justice's own inspector general have 
substantiated some of our worst fears. As you go around the courts in 
this country, we now see a corrosive situation in which defendants 
routinely question whether Federal prosecutions are politically 
motivated; not whether the law was broken but whether political 
considerations determined whether the prosecution would be brought. 
Great damage has been done to the credibility and effectiveness of the 
Justice Department.
  I have known Eric Holder for years. If he is President-elect Obama's 
selection to be the next Attorney General, he will bring the kind of 
leadership, temperament, experience, and judgment we need to restore 
the rule of law and rebuild the reputation of the Department of Justice 
so it is worthy of its name.
  In October, before the results of the current election were known, I 
wrote with Senator Specter about the kind of person who should be 
appointed the next Attorney General of the United States. Eric H. 
Holder, Jr., surely fits the bill. The next Attorney General has to 
understand our moral and legal obligations to protect the fundamental 
rights of all Americans. The Attorney General must ensure that the 
Department of Justice is working to uphold the Constitution and the 
rule of law, not working to circumvent them in order to promote the 
President's political agenda.
  We need an Attorney General who realizes that no one is above the 
law. The Attorney General is not above the law and no Member of this 
body, but especially the President of the United States, is above the 
law.
  I know Mr. Holder appreciates and respects the work and commitment of 
the thousands of men and women who work at the Justice Department in 
their dedication to enforcing the law and promoting justice. They know 
him from his days at the Public Integrity Section, from his time as a 
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, from his years as the 
Deputy Attorney General, the second highest ranking official in the 
Department. I think this choice would be welcomed by career 
professionals and prosecutors at the Department of Justice. He can do a 
great deal to restore morale as well as the rule of law.
  His career has been one of ``firsts''. It would be fitting for him to 
become the first African American nominated and confirmed to serve as 
the Attorney General of the United States.
  Shortly after his graduation from Colombia Law School, he 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. 
He worked there 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, and assistant U.S. attorney in 
New York City, an FBI agent, and a capo in an organized crime family.
  After a dozen years as a prosecutor, one of the best there was, 
President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be an associate judge on the 
Superior Court of the District of Columbia. When Ronald Reagan 
nominated him to be a judge, he was easily confirmed, and he served in 
that position for 5 years. He left the bench--becoming, incidentally 
again, the first African American U.S. attorney for the District of 
Columbia. That is the largest U.S. Attorney's Office in the country. 
While in that post, he oversaw prosecution of a powerful Democratic 
Congressman.
  Four years later he was nominated to the important post of Deputy 
Attorney General. I worked with the then-chairman of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, Senator Orrin Hatch to report his nomination 
favorably to the Senate. I was disturbed that an anonymous Republican 
hold delayed consideration of his nomination for 3 weeks. But when that 
hold was lifted and we had a vote--open, in the daylight--all 100 
Senators voted to confirm Eric Holder to be the Deputy Attorney General 
of the United States. He became the first African American in the 
history of the Department to achieve that high position and later 
served briefly as the Acting Attorney General.
  But, notwithstanding my friendship with Mr. Holder, notwithstanding 
my friendship with the President-elect, should he be nominated, Mr. 
Holder should be voted for or against on his merits. His race will be a 
historic footnote, but that is not what should make the difference.
  Whoever is nominated to the position of the chief law enforcement 
officer of this country should be considered on his or her merits. And 
what wonderful merits he has. He has prosecuted high-level public 
officials and organized crime; developed comprehensive programs to 
combat domestic violence, child abuse, violent crime; revitalized 
programs to assist crime victims. He has helped guide the Department's 
efforts in the criminal prosecution of corporations, health care fraud, 
computer crimes, software piracy, helped develop a community 
prosecution model. He has served in nearly every level of the 
Department of Justice he would lead. That is what makes him qualified.
  We need an Attorney General, as Robert H. Jackson said 68 years ago 
about the Federal prosecutor, ``who serves the law, not factional 
purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.'' That is the kind 
of prosecutor Eric Holder always was, and that is the kind of Attorney 
General he would be.
  This is very personal to me. I consider the 8 years I spent as a 
prosecutor in Vermont after returning from law school one of the best 
opportunities I ever had to serve the public.
  I came close to serving in that area in the Federal Government. The 
then-Attorney General had invited me in to talk and to encourage me to 
come to the Department of Justice. He had reviewed my grades, he had 
reviewed where I was in the Georgetown Law Center, and he talked to me 
about coming in to the Department. I said to

[[Page S10698]]

him, ``Mr. Attorney General, tell me again how the Department of 
Justice works. Are you free of political influence from the White 
House?'' I remember him saying, and I can see his eyes today as he 
looked me straight in the eye and said, ``I have told the President 
that neither he nor anyone from the White House can interfere with 
prosecutions. We will make those determinations here in the Department 
of Justice based on the facts and the law.'' I remember even at that 
time I thought if I was ever a prosecutor, that is the kind of 
prosecutor I would want to be. And this Attorney General whom I talked 
with did exactly that. When a person who was key to the election of the 
President of the United States had committed a crime, this Attorney 
General prosecuted that person. This was particularly significant 
because that Attorney General was Robert F. Kennedy. The President of 
the United States was his brother, John F. Kennedy. But he said: We 
will protect the integrity of the Department of Justice.
  I want to see that again. I had that in my mind when I was a 
prosecutor. I believe strongly that we need to enforce the law with 
neither fear nor favor when. There is no question in my mind that Eric 
Holder would do that.
  I think of the thousands of men and women who work for the Department 
of Justice, some of the finest people you will ever see anywhere, many 
I have known for decades. For most of them, I have no idea what their 
political allegiances are, whether they are Republicans or Democrats or 
Independents. But I know one thing about every single one of them: they 
are the best of the best. They deserve, as an Attorney General, the 
best of the best.
  I commend President-elect Obama for considering Eric Holder for this 
position. He is a public servant who has broad support within the law 
enforcement community and on both sides of the aisle. I was pleased to 
see that the initial reactions of Senator Hatch, Senator Sessions, and 
Senator Coburn--all Republican members of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee--and many others, were to acknowledge his public service, his 
integrity, and good qualities. Mr. Holder should have the support of 
Senators from both sides of the aisle if the President-elect chooses to 
nominate him. I can assure you if he is nominated that the Senate 
Judiciary Committee will hold prompt and fair nomination hearings.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar.) The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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