Are Eric Holder’s Days Numbered?
Holder also got into trouble this week when all seven Republican members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee sent Holder a blistering letter regarding his evasiveness in explaining his decision to hire lawyers who had volunteered to help the legal defenses of terrorists. Holder has assigned these lawyers to advise the administration policy on detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
In a coming interview with PJTV, Senator Grassley said he thought Holder was “in trouble with the committee.” Grassley also said the policy of keeping the names, backgrounds, and assignments of the political appointees “was wholly inconsistent with the president’s promise of transparency.”
The Justice Department begrudgingly released the names of some of the appointees to Fox News after Keep America Safe released a video titled “Who Are the Al-Qaeda Seven?” — a reference to the seven Holder lawyers who previously defended enemy combatants. The video asked viewers to call the Justice Department:
Tell Eric Holder Americans have a right to know the identity of the Al-Qaeda Seven.
A congressional source told PJM that a flood of telephone calls to the department following the TV commercial pushed the department to release at least some of the names. However, it is still unclear what kind of access they have to sensitive information and what policies they are deciding.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expecting to grill Holder on March 12, when he is scheduled to testify before the committee.
It is rare when the intersection of two powerful stories converge on a cabinet member in such a short time. But Holder’s twin audacious decisions — to bring into his office lawyers who helped enemy combatants, and to award new civil rights to terrorists in a New York trial — have just blown up in his face.
This is not the first time Holder has been soft on terrorists. In July 1998, as President Clinton’s deputy attorney general, Holder asked for clemency for 16 Puerto Rican terrorists. In making the recommendation Holder was opposed by the U.S. pardon attorney, the FBI, the federal prosecutor, and the victims.
The clemency recommendation also was unusual because, before the commutations, the terrorists were not required to repudiate their actions, and they were not asked to provide any information concerning the whereabouts of Victor Manuel Gerena, a co-conspirator and one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, or the millions of dollars stolen by the group in a 1983 robbery of Wells Fargo in West Hartford, Connecticut.
The attorney general’s positions reflect those of many “progressives” who have criticized the war on terror. In a July 2008 speech before the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, Holder said:
This I think is a particular time in our nation’s history where the pendulum has starting to swing or has swung, and I think the notion of a progressive America, an America run by progressive has about to happen.
With this new administration that’s going to be starting in January … we’re going to be looking for people who share our values.
Traditionally, the attorney general is the closest cabinet official to the president. When President Kennedy was elected, he named his brother Bobby to serve as his AG.
President Obama, moreover, did not simply choose Holder out of friendship. The president is steeped in constitutional law. He once was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago and was the president of the Harvard Law Review.
So he knew what he was doing when he green lit Holder’s actions.
In fact, Burlingame found the entire episode of Holder “acting on his own” disingenuous:
If he was tasked with making this (KSM) decision, it shouldn’t have been his decision alone. … It was a commander-in-chief decision. Are we at war? And if we’re at war are they enemy combatants? This is a commander-in-chief decision.
Does anyone believe that Holder decided to forgo military trials without the knowledge and approval of Obama and the rest of the cabinet? This practice of passing blame else is getting creepy.
I hope so!…….oh you mean in this job? Sorry.
The president is steeped in constitutional law. He once was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago and was the president of the Harvard Law Review.
The “he should know” argument is quite strong without these debunked “facts,” but they do help in using Obama’s own words against him.
Holder and Obama are collectively responsible for the single worst executive decision I have seen in my lifetime, the disasterous idea to try KSM and his 4 helpers in US District Court for the district of NY. The trial would have cost more than 400 million in security costs and would have afforded enemy combatants a forum to promote their nutty ideas about Islam. It would have made NYC the prime western target for an Al Queda strike, thus endangering millions of New Yorkers. It would have afforded the defendants all rights guaranteed under our Constitution to criminals.
The idea was utterly indefensible and the entire NY Congressional delegation condemned the venue, a condemnation by arguablly the most liberal group of legislators in the nation. Holder and Obama thought it was a good idea. That is the collective wisdom conveyed in their judgement regarding trials for these sick murderers. It is the thinking of addled minds rather than the thinking of men who understand that their first duty is to protect the citizens of our country.
FDR,for all of his Fabian socialist tendencies, never would have made a similar error in judgement. When Nazi Sabatouers invaded our shores and were caught they were given a military trial, after which they were shot.
You can only wonder at the poor judgement of these two men. They also think that it is a good idea to bring “William Kunstler” types into the Justice Department who have defended the very murderers residing in Gitmo now.
Indefensible.
Not only is his prior service questionable, ie while deputy AG under Clinton, but his current service shows a total lack of awareness of public mood. His dismissal of the Black Panther party prosecution victory in the Pennsylvania voting intimidation case was another example of incompetence and a tin ear. After all the left claims that the right was intimidating voters through various ways, you would think that it would be fair for the left to hang their own occasionally. For anyone to believe that Obama has not made all of these decisions is truly simplistic.
OMG!!!! Was Bush behind this? Won’t these evil puppet masters on the right ever desist?????????????? Question: If they rename Gitmo ‘Iluvyuandi’msorryland’ might that be a suitable venue?????
He has nothing to worry about if he were to leave…Princeton/Yale/Harvard will probably hire him, immediately.
Meanwhile, the INVASION of the USA continues… http://www.BorderInvasionPics.com
“the notion of a progressive America, an America run by progressives”
Ooooh, isn’t that telling!
Yes, Holder needs to be fired. He has done more to damage the defense of the United States than anyone in his position that I am aware of. He has made one bad decision after another. Please place in this AG position a person with love for USA and our defense not one who coddles the terrorist and our country’s enemy!
Barack Obama was NEVER a Law Professor at the University of Chicago. He was a part-time guest lecturer. Probably used a teleprompter like he does now. He is known to have said (and is on tape saying it) that he dislikes the Constitution because it doesn’t give the Government ENOUGH power to do things and it restricts the Government too much. What does that tell you? He has also said (when he was at the U of Chicago) that he doesn’t believe people should have the right to own guns. This guy is anti-Constitution all the way.
Holder is Obama’s lap dog, Mr. step and fetch it: you really think Holder’s decisions were independently arrived at without the President’s sign off? In point of fact, Obama’s original White House counsel has already resigned. Curiously, that White House throw down was a caucasian too, but I’m sure it wasn’t a skin thing.
Mr Pollock:
“The president is steeped in constitutional law. He once was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago and was the president of the Harvard Law Review.”
I sincerely hope you were being sarcastic.
Holder to go? Yes, please!
He should’ve gone after the non-prosecution of the Black Panthers for intimidating people (on video) at polling places during the election.
Mr. Pollock:
The really shocking thing about the KSM trial decision is how blithely Holder,(presumably also speaking for his master), all but guarantees a conviction in what is supposed to be a fair and impartial trial.
Although I have no law degree and am admitted to no bar, I’ve always been led to believe that the verdict comes at the end of the trial, not before the beginning.
The fact that Holder, the “Terrorists’ Great Emancipator”, along with The Alleged Hawaiian would use the Federal Criminal Justice system as their venue for setting a “show trial” precedent should give any sane American pause.
And coming as it does from two goobers who belong to the political party that howled fit to bring down the skies over supposed Bush Administration civil liberties infringements is icing on the cake .
Obama and Holder are scoundrels and neither deserves to continue in ANY Federal office for one minute longer.
If Holder resigns he could always take a job with the of New Black Panthers. I understand the Philadelphia Chapter needs a few more club-wielding thugs to threaten elderly whites folks who have the audacity to attempt to vote in their own neighborhood precincts.
The White House announced today that Eric Holder has submitted his resignation as the United States Attorney General. Lamenting that the demands of his job have kept him from spending quality time with his family, Holder said, “It has been my great privilege to serve in this historic administration, but the needs of my family come first.”
President Obama praised Holder’s patriotic service as Attorney General, and expressed sorrow that his good friend and colleague had chosen to seek opportunities elsewhere. Mr. Obama further commented that had it not been for the corrosive nature of the last eight years of the Bush administration, more talented progressives would be willing to serve their country and would be willing to help achieve the Mr. Obama’s goal of fundamentally changing America.
Today, the President also lashed out against Republican naysayers who claim that the President’s “Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!” approach to health-care legislation will certainly lead to a collision of the ship of state with the electorate this November and in the presidential elections of 2012.
On a separate note, anthropogenic global warming advocates observed that icebergs have not been so large and so numerous in the North Atlantic since the R.M.S. Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg.
Mr. Pollock,
In my own lil’ ol’ blond haired blued eyed girlie girl way, I have been known to very respectfully
accuse some of Pajamas Medias’ most talented article writers (from Dr. Hanson to Jennifer Rubin) of having a touch too much
naivete with regard to the President. In my humble opinion, Mr. Pollock, you exhibit some of the same unsettling tendencies.
First and foremost, no decision such as how and where to try the 9/11 attackers is made without
the full knowledge and approval of the President’s closest advisors and the President himself. Somebody doesn’t walk into
the President’s oval office one day and say, “Golly, Mr. President, have you heard that the attorney general has announced that
he’s trying the 9/11 attackers under civilian law and in New York City?”
The President then doesn’t answer” my oh my, Rahm, that could stir up a hornet’s nest with the American people.”
Mr. Pollock, that’s not how the world works.
In reality, sir, all the President’s men and Obama himself agreed that if the NYC venue and civilian court were roundly booed by the
American people, they could deflect Presidential blame by throwing Holder under the bus. Holder would take the fall. Not the President.
The President and his men wanted to make it sound like Holder made and announced the decision to try the attackers in civilian court in New York City by himself, which is a ludicrous suggestion.
Incidentally, Holder has been used as the trial balloon for everything from “white males are cowards when it comes to race” to the releasing of the Black Panther voter intimidators, to the more recent political gaffes. In Presidential circles, it’s well known that, if need be, others are required to fall on the sword to protect the President.
Unfortunately, what the American people are faced with in the Obama administration is the most corrupt, badly intentioned group of miscreants in the history of American government, not to mention a President who is bound and determined to transform American into a progressive, totalitarian type of state where the government is the parents and the people are the children who every now and then deserve a good whacking. Yes, whacking.
Barack and his people are anything but incompetent. They possess the scienter that is required in criminal court to convict criminals. They have the progressive ideology that makes them want to give rights to enemy combatants that American soldiers don’t have. I pray the American people don’t let Barack and his happy henchmen get away with it.
Obama + Holder = arrogant dictators.
He’ll just be replaced with another incompetent looney-left Islam-supporting anti-American loser.
Let’s not elevate Our Fearless Leader beyond his status.
Obama was a lecturer at the U. of Chicago, not a professor. The difference is substantial.
The president of the Harvard Law Review is its editor, nothing more. Obama’s tenure a HLR “president” was distinguished by his failure to author a single article. To use one of Obama’s most over-used words, this was unprecedented.
His career is a litany of preferential treatment due to race. The man is the very embodiment of an affirmative action mediocrity.
Obama knows everything that his people say to the public.
It’s not an “oh my, what did that man say?” moment for him when Holder and the others speak. These people are not the decision makers…the buck stops at Obama’s desk.
It’s nothing but arrogance and thinking the American public is dense..and sometimes, I also wonder..such as the last presidential election…
I hate to burst the authors bubble, but what would be the point
of firing Holder? Though Holder obviously shares Obama’s
attitude toward civil & criminal rights for our terrorist
enemies, he was just a conduit for this idiotic policy.
This was Obama’s baby all the way. Anyone who thinks otherwise
is just plain naive and ignorant.
On a brighter note, could Janet Reno be making a comeback in
the near future? I hear she’s tanned, rested and ready…..
KDW: I agree with you, but Holder MUST go.
I think we can all agree he’s an idiot but Obama will need to replace him with another idiot to vocalize his next idiotic idea, then that idiot will have to go, then the next idiot, then the next idiot, and so on. Eventually the public will catch on. They will understand that the true source of these idiotic ideas is not the unfortunate suit standing behind the microphone but Obama him self; like most of us on this forum know already.
This process is necessary to reveal the ultimate truth: OBAMA IS AN IDIOT!
If there’s anything that Obama’s Presidency can contribute to future generations, it’s that, as long as you can speak English and your IQ is above the point that you don’t need assistance going to the bathroom, You Too Can Be A President!
Hopefully the next President will raise the bar a little.
@ Die Fledermaus:
“His career is a litany of preferential treatment due to race. The man is the very embodiment of an affirmative action mediocrity.”
I agree with you! But to understand the severity of the current situation you must also take into account the “Peter Principle”, which compounds that mediocrity exponentially.
Then things start to come into perspective. It doesn’t make things better, just a little more predictable, as long as your familiar with parabolic graphs.
@ Die Fledermaus:
“His career is a litany of preferential treatment due to race. The man is the very embodiment of an affirmative action mediocrity.”
You are absolutely right! But you must also take into account the “Peter Principle” which compounds the mediocrity exponentially.
While it won’t make the current state of affairs any better it may make things a little more predictable, provided you’re familiar with parabolic graphs.
One stupid appointment after another. One stupid decision after another. Everything BO and the Progressives do is driven by their ideology first, logical thinking second (if at all). And they have all been so completely and exclusively invested in this ideology that they have never had the time, the capacity or the inclination to learn the lessons of history, why our constitutional principles are so important, free market economics or in general how the world really works.
Ironically, when exposed to the actual implementation of these ideas, even the progressive minions will not like them very much – as evidenced with this Eric Holder decision and as they will find out with Obamacare and CapandTrade. Unfortunately with actions of that magnitude, the correction cycle will be very long. I am afraid our indebted and jobless kids and grandkids will have to deal with it.
As always PJ commenters are ignorant and have beliefs ungrounded in fact. I especially like the comment on how Obama is a dictator yet was democratically elected with more than 9 million votes than his opponent. Stay smart, stay reactionary. Good work PJ media of totally denying the viewpoint of the opposing side, as always.
Prosecuting accused terrorists in civilian courts is not unprecedented. Under the administration of President George W. Bush, there were 319 convictions in the civilian justice system. According to New York University’s Center on Law and Security, nine out of 10 of those cases resulted in convictions. Of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, only three faced a military commission, with two of them now free.
Samizdat please explain with facts how Holder and Obama are collectively responsible for the single worst executive decision I have seen in my lifetime?
Let’s be perfectly clear why Holder is the AG, it is because first he is black and secondly he is corrupt. He will do whatever he thinks he can get away with to first protect blacks, then the left and finally those who hate America. To think he is any different than his boss, is just plain silly.
He is the enemy within.
Mr. Obama further commented that had it not been for the corrosive nature of the last eight years of the Bush administration, more talented progressives would be willing to serve their country and would be willing to help achieve the Mr. Obama’s goal of fundamentally changing America.