[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2831-S2833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Eric Holder

  Mr. President, I want to talk about a different but related issue.
  Two weeks ago, after 5 long months, Loretta Lynch was finally sworn 
in as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States. I know she is 
going to be an exceptional Attorney General, and she has an exceptional 
deputy in Sally Yates. But I want to speak here about the remarkable 
service of Eric Holder, who has just left as Attorney General.
  Many don't realize that he came to the Justice Department as a 25-
year-old law school graduate in 1976. He has served at nearly every 
level of the Department over the past four decades. I believe we owe 
him our gratitude for his commitment to public service.
  I also know on a personal basis how much Marcelle and I appreciate 
the friendship we have with Eric and his wonderful wife, Sharon.
  When Eric Holder's nomination was first announced in 2008, I said 
that we needed an Attorney General who, as Robert Jackson said 68 years 
ago, ``serves the law and not factual purposes, and who approaches his 
task with humility.'' Well, that is what I said we needed, and that is 
what we got. It is the kind of man Eric Holder is and the kind of 
Attorney General he has been. He understands our moral and legal 
obligation to protect the fundamental rights of all Americans and to 
respect the human rights of all people. His leadership over the past 6 
years shows us that.
  I was there when he was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General. His 
family was there--his wife, mother, children, and others. Upon being 
sworn in, he immediately changed the tone of the Department. As he 
finished taking the oath, you heard this roar throughout the marbled 
and granite halls of the Department of Justice. The building literally 
shook with cheers. The dedicated professionals knew the Department was 
once again going to be dedicated to a nonpartisan search for justice 
for all Americans. These are highly professional and highly dedicated 
men and women appointed by both Republican and Democratic 
administrations, who set aside politics. They just want 
professionalism. And they knew, with Eric Holder, they would get it.

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  His decision to dismiss the charges brought during the Bush 
administration against former Senator Ted Stevens because of 
prosecutorial misconduct was a courageous decision. But, more 
importantly, it sent a strong message that misconduct would not be 
tolerated under his watch, and the Department would adhere to the 
highest ethical standards.
  This sense of fairness and justice also led Eric to restore what he 
fondly refers to as the conscience of the Nation, the Civil Rights 
Division of the Justice Department.
  His work on voting rights is among the most important during his 
tenure, and in the last 6 years, he has had his work cut out for him. 
After the Supreme Court's disastrous decision in Shelby County v. 
Holder, where a narrow majority gutted the Voting Rights Act, the 
Attorney General recommitted the Justice Department to safeguarding the 
right to vote for every American. And that he did so at a time when 
these constitutional rights were under attack has been supremely 
important.
  For Eric Holder, this cause is not new. It is as deep as his family 
roots, which include the work of his late sister-in-law Vivian Malone, 
Sharon's sister, who fought against segregation and for equal rights as 
a college student, seeking admittance to the University of Alabama in 
1963. I know that Eric is deeply proud of her and of the countless 
brave men and women who fought for equal voting rights and civil rights 
for every American. Each generation has its trailblazers who contribute 
to our march toward equality. I and my family believe that history will 
count Eric Holder among those patriots.
  Eric Holder did not simply look to correct the misguided practices of 
a previous administration. He sought to bring this Nation forward with 
an acute understanding that the fight for civil rights is not a single 
movement of five decades ago. The fight, as he knows, continues.
  Attorney General Holder recognized that the constitutionality of the 
Defense of Marriage Act, which discriminated against Americans simply 
for whom they loved, could no longer be defended by the Justice 
Department. The Supreme Court's decision to strike down section 3 of 
DOMA vindicated his decision. Some argued that it was the Justice 
Department's duty and obligation to defend the constitutionality of 
that statute. But just as our country came to see separate as 
inherently unequal, I believe Attorney General Holder's decision will 
be further vindicated with time. Discrimination has no place in our 
laws. Rooting it out takes leadership--the kind of leadership Eric 
Holder is known for.
  He also recognized the inequities in our criminal justice system and 
the consequences of mass incarceration. Our criminal justice system 
serves to imprison too many offenders for too long. This has resulted 
in our Federal prisons at nearly 40 percent overcapacity, consuming 
nearly one quarter of the Justice Department's budget. And this growth 
has been largely driven by our misplaced reliance on drug mandatory 
minimums. These mandatory minimums too often see no difference between 
drug couriers and drug kingpins.
  Attorney General Holder's ``Smart on Crime'' Initiative, along with 
Congress's effort to reform our Nation's sentencing laws, has been an 
essential step toward addressing these problems. No Attorney General in 
our Nation's history has recognized the inequities of our criminal 
justice system more than Eric Holder. He has proven that addressing 
these inequities leads to a more effective system. In fact, with Eric 
Holder, as our Nation's chief law enforcement officer, last year--for 
the first time in 40 years--the overall crime rate and the overall 
incarceration rate declined together.
  The Attorney General's commitment to fairness went well beyond 
sentencing reform. I look at the calm that he brought when he visited 
Ferguson, MO, in the midst of chaos and fear. He helped to bridge the 
distrust between law enforcement and the Ferguson community. He 
deserves praise for the Justice Department's investigation and 
reporting of the police department and the circumstances surrounding 
that shooting. These reports are scrupulously fair and they are fact-
based. His work has made the city of Ferguson reassess its practices, 
but it has also provided a path forward for both law enforcement and 
the broader community alike.
  Now, to go to one other point. I share Attorney General Holder's 
belief that we should not be afraid to prosecute terrorists in our 
Federal courts in accordance with the rule of law.
  With Eric's leadership, we proved we could hold terrorists 
accountable by making them answer for their crimes in public, for the 
world to see. Since Attorney General Holder assumed office, the 
Department of Justice has secured over 180 terrorism-related 
convictions. This shows his dedication to upholding the rule of law, 
even under the most difficult of circumstances. That is arguably one of 
his most enduring legacies.
  I know a number of people, including some on this floor, would stand 
up and say: Well, we should lock these terrorists up at Guantanamo. We 
are afraid to let them come to our country. We should not allow them 
here.
  Instead, Eric Holder said: What are we afraid of? We have the finest 
criminal justice system in the world. Bring them here; let the rest of 
the world see what happens.
  One by one, he did just that. They were each convicted, and they are 
all serving extremely difficult sentences. What he said is, we should 
not turn our backs on the values of America by locking them up in 
Guantanamo--a place so many of us feel should be closed. Let them come 
before our court system. Let's make sure they are adequately 
represented--both sides.
  The list of his accomplishments goes on. The Attorney General's 
leadership ensured that the most vulnerable Americans are protected by 
the Justice Department, including those who have suffered from hate 
crimes, domestic violence, and human trafficking. He guided the 
Department's steadfast implementation of vital legislation which passed 
through Congress, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate 
Crimes Prevention Act and the Leahy-Crapo Violence Against Women 
Reauthorization Act. These historic civil rights bills greatly expanded 
protections for the LGBT community, for rape victims, and for Native 
American domestic violence victims. As one who led the fight on many of 
these issues, I can tell my fellow Senators that it would have been 
impossible to pass them without Eric Holder's powerful commitment to 
protecting the most vulnerable among us.
  I talked about how when he returned to the Justice Department in 
2009, career attorneys lined the hallways to welcome back one of their 
own--cheers shook those walls. It had been a very difficult time for 
the Department. During the previous administration, there were scandals 
of politicized hiring, the decimating of the Civil Rights Division, the 
U.S. Attorney firing scandal, and the legal opinions defending the use 
of torture. But 6 years later, in his final day at the Department, 
those same professionals, appointed by both Republican and Democratic 
administrations, again lined the hallways in gratitude to Eric Holder 
for his work restoring integrity to the Department. Eric Holder 
restored the public's confidence in the Department. He leaves a 
Department that is now living up to its name, the Department of 
Justice.
  I am thankful for his dedicated, unwavering service to our country. 
We have a better Department of Justice because of Eric Holder's 
leadership. We are a better nation because of Eric Holder.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am in support of Ms. Sally Quillian 
Yates, of Georgia, to be the next Deputy Attorney General of the United 
States.
  Ms. Yates has been acting as Deputy Attorney General since January of 
this year and has a long and successful career in public service. 
Graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1986, with 
honors of magna cum laude, she went on to spend more than 20 years 
ensuring our streets were safe and our rights were protected in the 
U.S. attorney's office in Georgia. Ms. Yates served as the chief of the 
fraud and public corruption section and was the lead prosecutor in the 
case against Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber in Atlanta.
  She was the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney in the Northern 
District of Georgia, confirmed by this body on

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March 10, 2010. Ms. Yates also served as vice chair of the Attorney 
General's Advisory Committee.
  Ms. Yates has not been afraid to take on complex and challenging 
cases and has handled herself with professionalism and integrity. She 
is effective in problemsolving and provides reasonable and rational 
solutions. I am confident she will serve the American people with 
distinction and dedication. I look forward to working with her in my 
role as vice chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the 
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies 
Subcommittee.