Below is my column on the resignation of Eric Holder as United States Attorney General. For civil libertarians, Holder’s tenure as Attorney General under President Obama has been one of the most damaging periods in our history with a comprehensive attack on various constitutional rights and principles from free speech to the free press to international law. In recent polling by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, Holder was the second most unpopular government official after the positively radioactive Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
As someone who previously called for Holder’s firing after the investigation of various journalists under national security powers, I am hardly one who can offer congratulatory sentiments for such a record. However, much like President Obama, one has to wonder what could have been if Holder had chosen a more principled and less political approach to his office. Holder is resigning the same week that a federal judge ordered the release of “Fast and Furious” documents after the Justice Department was accused of a pattern of delay and obstruction. Holder was previously held in contempt by Congress for his withholding documents and conflicting accounts to an oversight committee looking into the scandal. Indeed, Holder was looking at an even more aggressive period with the possible loss of the Senate and increased GOP seats in the House.
Ironically, Holder came into office trying to distinguish himself from such disastrous predecessors as Alberto Gonzales but proved no less political or blindly loyal to his own president. Indeed, both men fought aggressively to expand the powers of the presidency and national security laws over countervailing individual rights and separation of powers principles. It will be civil liberties and not civil rights that will be the lasting, and troubling, legacy of Eric Holder. The column is below:
The resignation of Eric Holder as attorney general is an unavoidably symbolic moment for an administration that itself appears to be waning in the final years of a troubled second term. Holder truly personifies an administration of unrivaled ambitions colliding with inescapable realities.
He proved a fierce friend to President Obama, and that loyalty might have worked to the disadvantage of both men. After a series of major court defeats and public controversies, Obama (like President Bush before him) might have been served better by an attorney general who was more detached from him and more attached to the constitutional principles that shape both their offices.
Holder has secured a well-earned position for himself in history as the nation’s first black U.S. attorney general. He is by any means an American success story. The son of a father born in Barbados and raised in New York, Holder used his considerable intellect to go to Columbia University for both college and law school. He was made a judge on the local D.C. court by President Reagan and was appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia by President Clinton, who later made him deputy attorney general.
Holder’s life should be both an inspiration and a cautionary tale for young lawyers. As he ascended into power, Holder became increasingly viewed by critics as a bit too ambitious and political within the Justice Department. That reputation was reaffirmed for many with Clinton’s last-minute pardon of fugitive and major Democratic donor Marc Rich. By any objective measure, Rich was one of the least deserving pardon applicants in history — with 65 criminal counts, from tax evasion to wire fraud to racketeering to illegal trades with Iran. While his companies later pleaded guilty to 35 criminal counts, Rich fled to live the good life in Switzerland. Besides a long list of alleged felonies, Rich had a long list of friends close to Clinton … and Clinton in turn had Eric Holder.
Holder was accused of short-cutting the normal procedures to push through the pardon for Rich. Though he said he was “neutral” on the pardon (which itself is a bit shocking), former FBI director Louis Freeh said the Clinton White House had “used” Holder to keep the FBI and the DOJ from being heard on the pardon.
In his confirmation hearing, Holder promised not to have a repeatof the Rich scandal and not to allow politics to influence his decisions. It was a defining moment and one that Holder would have been wise to work to live up to.
But it did not take long for Holder’s inspiring “Mr. Smith comes to Washington” story to become “all the king’s men.” When the president was confronted with demands to investigate and prosecute individuals for torture under the Bush administration, Holder faced an early test of principle. He failed. The Justice Department blocked any prosecution despite our obligation under international treaties and the president’s (and Holder’s) acknowledgment that waterboarding is clearly a form of torture.
To quote Jerry Maguire, Obama had Holder at “hello” in seeking unbridled presidential authority. Many of the cases that Holder brought and policies that he supported resulted in startling defeats. He lost a series of criminal cases seeking massive reductions in privacy and due process protections for citizens. He unwisely pursued cases such as Canning, where a unanimous Supreme Court curtailed the powers of the president to make recess appointments.
Holder personally announced Obama’s “kill list” policy, in which the president claimed the right to kill any U.S. citizen on his sole authority without a charge, let alone a conviction. Holder’s department used the controversial Espionage Act of 1917 to bring twice the number of such prosecutions of all prior presidents under the Act. Journalists were placed under surveillance in a record that rivaled that of President Nixon. Holder led an appalling crackdown on whistle-blowers. Holder fought to justify massive warrantless surveillance and unchecked presidential authority to attack other countries without congressional approval.
Holder’s continual confrontations with Congress came to a head in a series of scandals, including the “Fast and Furious” controversy in which the government allowed drug gangs to get high-powered weapons in a truly moronic “gun walking” program. In that and other scandals, the administration withheld documents and key witnesses from oversight committees. Holder was wrong and was ultimately held in contempt of Congress.
While Holder can be credited with not shying away from our race conflicts, his actions such as intervening in the Zimmerman case (after the shooting of Trayvon Martin) and the recent Ferguson shooting were viewed by many as premature. His calling the United States a “nation of cowards” on race was a brave but also a divisive moment. In the end, however, his positive work in the area of civil rights will ultimately be eclipsed by his destructive legacy in the area of civil liberties and constitutional government.
The sad truth is that Holder could have been truly great — not simply as the first black attorney general but as a man of principle who stood with the law over politics and friendship. In one of the great lost opportunities in history, Holder will finish his tenure as he began it: a man with great but still unrealized potential.
Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, is a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors.
Leejcaroll,
One of my wishes is that someday, and it is about as likely as me winning the Powerball Lottery twice, the constitution will be amended to have a Total Recall ballot where the citizenry can vote Congress and the president out of office in a single ballot measure for each. That’s a political campaign I would actually volunteer for.
We have the right of recall initiative in our state. It does not happen often but some terrible politicians were shown the door. One of the worst was this guy:
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021269042_recallelectionxml.html
leejcaroll
Americans have been taught how NOT to be independent thinkers, instead cowered into thinking their only choice is either the red or blue pills… It’s carried into this thread even. FEAR of politics, FEAR of choices, FEAR of being cowered, FEAR of ridicule, FEAR of making the wrong choice. F.E.A.R. inc.
Sorry Olly, Republicans have violated the Consitution every bit as much as any Democratic President. So who do we vote for? The old “my side doesn’t do it” just doesn’t cut it. Why do you ignore that? Republicans give the Consitution lip service, that is all. They are no better nor any more principled and their platform is F’d up.
Annie – the old ‘your guy is as bad as my guy’ argument is actually a logical fallacy. It shows the weakness of your argument.
At least the Reagan DOJ prosecuted Bankers for their fraud!
Part of the problem is that polls continually show people will say” throw the bums out” and then say, by a good majority, they will vote for the incumbent. They like their guy and hate all the others.
https://twitter.com/JohnKiriakou/status/494109706383015938
“Principles have precedence. However I would rather NOT vote if the candidate represented a totally opposite philosophy to what I hold dear.”
Annie,
Constitutional principles have precedence, yes indeed! That’s why it’s the supreme law of the land. Now, if those are not the principles you are talking about then folks like you are to blame when un(constitutionally) principled politicians do their work.
When you allow criminals in your neighborhood because they only bother other people then you cannot complain when they are replaced by those you don’t like.
I don’t think you really care though, as long as you get the philosophy you hold dear.
Olly,
Principles have precedence. However I would rather NOT vote if the candidate represented a totally opposite philosophy to what I hold dear.
Yep, another post eaten. How amateur is this place? Really? Adios…until it is fixed.
Paul…I agree with you about we’ve all lost stuff, but it happens way too often here, just like Prof Jacobson’s blog. I’ve given up on Prof Jacobson’s place…they just won’t fix it. Over there they are more interested in getting out their message(s) than in any reader responses.
Here…Darren is a saint for his help, but he and JT need skilled assistance in re-organizing this WordPress mess. I regularly (daily) utilize a WordPress format blog in Israel (http://anneinpt.wordpress.com), a good place for ME insight, with global readership and commentariat, and have never not once ever ever in over 8 years had one comment swallowed up. It is all in the set up in the particular Db format. Db is what I did for the last dozen years in the Army but I am now too far out of date….e.g., mere Oracle has been long passed by so to speak. Otherwise I’d volunteer here, but there are teenagers now who know more than I do. I will be happy to pay a $10 per month registration fee to support this place if the management will fix it. Otherwise, no way…just like I withdrew my subscription from Prof Jacobson’s place.
Aridog, I retrieved your comment at 5:36.
Aridog – I do not know enough about WordPress to know how it works. I was on here one day was JT was tinkering and it went really really bad. 🙂 I know that sometimes spam gets thru and I know JT says the settings are tight to keep the spam out but the downside is that it randomly thinks some of our comments are spam. I do know that it is random, it clearly is not personal.
Aridog, I remember the alewife mass suicides on the beaches of Chicago when I lived there. Did some smelt fishing back then. It’s great beer drinking activity like the crabbing I did on the east coast. Both are nocturnal endeavors.
Squeeky….I love your vote for impact idea …been doing that for years. Finally de-registered as a Democrat in 2004 when I couldn’t get anyone to answer any questions in the Michigan DP.
But Michigan is an odd case, until this past election for Governor, the difference between a Michigan Democrat and Michigan Republican was merely the lapel pin they wore. Worst tax and spend tax’em till they bleed governor ever here was a Republican named Bill Milliken. He introduced both an income tax and a VAT tax that was closeted…e.g., you got no pass through credit for payment in a retail purchase….essentially a tax on labor that I paid twice in loss years in my sojourn in the private sector (think about it…from what do you pay a tax on minus income?) …. finally the governor we have now, a Republican not beholden to the old guard, abolished that POS VAT tax.
You are right…vote on principle, not so much the personality. Use your vote to tell the incumbents they suck.
Annie,
Do you measure a candidate by how they honor the oath of office or by how well they align with your liberal, progressive principles? Which takes priority to you?
Nick said …
Aridog, To some degree, the military side is different than the circle jerker politicians.
No. Not really. Same clowns different offices. Almost musical chairs, truth be told. The actually field experienced military today has little input, if any. I also dealt with the civil works side of DOD and trust me, nothing is more politically a circle jerk. Especially in the southern states. Also, noteworthy, is how much Chicago is part of the civil works fandango…and has been for years, so I can’t blame any one administration. Chicago District of the the US Army Corps of Engineers exists solely for political reasons…it barely covers 1/8th of one state…but manages those cross drainage basin canals you betcha….the ones no one will close even with the invasion of giant jumping Asian Carp now reaching in to Lake Michigan. Like the Alewife, down the St Lawrence, they will wreck havoc…but the alewife is a small herring, and the Asian Carp is about 2lbs + each and can grow larger. Salmon took care of the alewife, but it will take at least Orcas to deal with the Carp. Good luck with that….maybe we can import some Bull Sharks, who can live in fresh water…aggghhhhhh.
@Annie
if the threat of being thrown out of office doesn’t work, how come so many Democratic Senatorial candidates have taken a right turn this year??? Regardless of what the 1% want, each candidate fears having to go get a real job somewhere, and not being a part of the power structure. We have a great weapon to get their attention (a vote), but if we never punish them, why should they behave???
Vote Republican this year. You won’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight, I promise. Then, afterwards, call the DNC and tell them why you didn’t vote for them this time around. I am telling you, if incumbents start losing, you will see a change in a hurry.
Republican grass roots are already giving their candidates hell over the immigration issue.
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-09-24.html
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
So far Bernie Sanders appears to be principled, but hey I’m a born again cynic. He won’t get the nomination.
Squeeky, the people ( the Oligarchy) who have ‘provided’ these terribly flawed candidates as the only choices we get, are the ones who REALLY put them in power. WE poor schmuks are simply fooling ourselves into thinking we have a REAL choice, we DON’T. There is no essential difference in a Republican candidate and a Democratoc one EXCEPT for social issues.
@Annie
You would vote for a Republican to wake up your own party. Then, when and if the Republican pulls some crap, you call their office and tell them they are out next election unless they straighten up. Right now, incumbents usually win. Ask yourself what happens if that dynamic changes???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeky, I might pull the lever for the Green Party, but really, what good would it do? Republicans stances on social issues do not come NEAR to what my own philosophy is, so why would I vote for one?
LeeJ, I try to be optimistic, but there are times that the evidence that we are just soooo screwed is overwhelming, one just can’t ignore it.