[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 6 (Monday, January 12, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S282-S283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF ERIC HOLDER

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I rise to speak on President-elect 
Obama's nomination of Eric Holder to be the Attorney General of the 
United States. It is nothing new in Washington for it to be said of a 
nominee that he or she is the best person for a job. That happens all 
the time. We have all heard it. It will surprise no one in this room or 
elsewhere in Washington to know it is not always the case. But in this 
case, for this appointment at this time, I believe it is true. I 
believe Eric Holder is the best person to be Attorney General of the 
United States.
  It is hard to overstate the significance of the work of the 
Department of Justice to the American people.
  It is hard to overstate how vital it is that the American people have 
confidence in that Department, from the Attorney General down to the 
most junior line attorney. It is hard to overstate the importance of 
our trust that this great Department makes decisions on the merits, 
proceeds on the facts and the evidence and the law, and carefully 
protects itself from political interference.
  The Bush administration has compromised the American peoples' faith 
in their Department of Justice by compromising the integrity of the 
Department at its highest levels. We need that back.
  What we need now is an Attorney General who first, understands the 
inner workings of the Department so he can set the ship right; second, 
will be fiercely independent and will make decisions based on the facts 
and the evidence and the law, not on politics or pressure from the 
White House; and third, has the temperament and experience to be strong 
and fair through all of the pressures that mount up on that office. 
Eric Holder is the best possible person for this difficult job at this 
difficult time.
  We all know Mr. Holder's long and distinguished experience at the 
Justice Department and within the justice system. He has been a line 
attorney in the Public Integrity Section, prosecuting corrupt public 
officials of both parties; he has been a judge nominated by President 
Ronald Reagan; he has been the Deputy Attorney General, the No. 2 
position in the Department; he has been the U.S. attorney for the 
District of Columbia; and he has been a highly regarded attorney in 
private practice. One would be hard pressed to find a more experienced 
candidate. It is no surprise, then, that so many organizations and 
individuals who work with the criminal justice system every day have 
endorsed Mr. Holder's nomination, including the National Fraternal 
Order of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the 
National Association of Police Organizations, the International 
Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of Assistant 
United States Attorneys, the National Center for Victims of Crime, the 
National Organization for Victim Assistance, and Mothers Against Drunk 
Driving.
  Mr. Holder's experience is unquestionable, but it is not only 
experience that makes him the right person for this uniquely 
challenging post. I know Eric Holder. When I was a U.S. attorney, he 
was my colleague, as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, 
and then my boss when he became Deputy Attorney General. I have great 
personal confidence in him. In our work at the Department, the U.S. 
attorneys saw firsthand in Eric, over and over, the qualities of 
temperament, intelligence, judgment, and independence that are 
essential for an Attorney General and especially for an Attorney 
General who takes office during a time when the Department is in 
distress.
  As I know Eric Holder, so also do I know the damage and destruction 
that was wrought by the Bush administration on our Department of 
Justice. In the Judiciary Committee, under the distinguished leadership 
of Chairman Patrick Leahy, we worked hard to find out what has been 
done there and to bring it to light. My colleagues, Senator Schumer of 
New York and Senator Feinstein of California, deserve particular credit 
in that struggle.
  Because I had worked in the Department, I was familiar with many of 
the institutions, the traditions and the practices of the Department 
that have been cast aside or ignored. The result? The result was a 
damaged institution, its reputation compromised, its integrity 
challenged, and its morale sadly diminished. Now, more than anything 
else, someone needs to put that right. Eric Holder has the knowledge, 
the experience, and the character to do that.
  I have listened with a great deal of interest to some of the things 
that have been said in this Chamber about Eric Holder and his 
character. Indeed, there has been a not-so-subtle effort to question 
whether Mr. Holder is sufficiently independent of political influence 
to serve this Nation as our Attorney General. I cannot speak to the 
motivations behind this effort, but I can say this: Eric Holder is a 
man who spent 12 years as a line prosecutor prosecuting corrupt 
politicians of both parties. He is a man who was sufficiently 
politically independent for President Ronald Reagan to nominate him as 
a judge. This is a man who, as U.S. attorney for the District of 
Columbia, indicted and convicted Dan Rostenkowski, the Democratic 
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful men 
in Washington. This is a man who recommended to Attorney General Janet 
Reno that she appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate President 
Clinton's Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt. This is a man who 
advised Attorney General Reno to expand the scope of the investigation 
by Kenneth Starr into the Monica Lewinsky affair investigation.
  It is not just me with this confidence in Eric Holder and in his 
independence, his character, his judgment, and his temperament. Let me 
read what former Attorney General William Barr, former Deputy Attorney 
General James Comey, and former Federal Bureau of Investigation 
Director Louis Freeh have said about him.
  In a letter to Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter, Mr. Comey 
wrote this:

       From my professional and personal association with Mr. 
     Holder, I believe him to be a man of strong character, and 
     first-class ability. I think he has the institutional 
     knowledge, humility, and integrity to be a fine Attorney 
     General.

  My colleagues will remember that James Comey was the Deputy Attorney 
General for Attorney General Ashcroft. He was the Acting Attorney 
General at the time of that sickening raid by the White House Chief of 
Staff and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales at the

[[Page S283]]

hospital bedside of stricken Attorney General Ashcroft. He is the man 
who stood up against the warrantless wiretapping program and stopped it 
until it was brought right. He is the center, by all accounts, of what 
would have been essentially the resignation of the attorneys at the top 
of the Department of Justice if the White House had not blinked and 
backed down. This is a man who knows something about independence and 
integrity, and he vouches for Eric Holder.
  Louis Freeh, who was the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, wrote this:

       I am certain that Eric has the highest legal competence, 
     total integrity, leadership, and, most importantly, the 
     political independence to discharge faithfully the immense 
     trust this Nation reposes in its Attorney General . . . In 
     all of Eric's interactions with me as FBI Director, as well 
     as in his close coordination with my Deputy and other 
     Assistant Directors who also had extensive and sometimes 
     daily contact with him, Eric always displayed total 
     integrity, courageous leadership, complete fairness, and, 
     once again and most importantly, political independence.

  Former Attorney General Bill Barr, former Deputy Attorney General 
George Terwilliger, and others wrote that:

       Mr. Holder's 30-year professional career has consistently 
     been characterized by unfailing integrity and a commitment to 
     political independence . . . Eric Holder is the right man at 
     the right time to protect our citizens in the critical years 
     ahead.

  There is a powerful record behind Eric Holder of political 
independence. The measure of independence is not whether you decide 
against the President or your party on every question, every time; the 
measure is whether you decide against the President or your party when 
the facts and the law direct it. In my view, Eric Holder has met that 
standard. And in the view of Republican Attorney General and Deputy 
Attorney Generals and people who have served with distinction and know 
him well, they agree he has fully met that standard.
  I take the Senate's role in the confirmation process very seriously. 
I believe the Judiciary Committee must and, under the leadership of 
Chairman Leahy, will closely examine Mr. Holder's record and his 
qualifications. It is our duty. At the end of that process, I believe 
the majority of colleagues will agree with me and with so many others 
that Eric Holder is the right person at the right time to restore our 
Department of Justice to its rightful standing as the defender of what 
is good and what is honorable and what is true in our Nation.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding we are in morning 
business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. We are.

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