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Senate Confirms Attorney General Holder
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ShareFebruary 02, 2009 6:40 PM
ABC News’ Theresa Cook and Jason Ryan report: The Senate has voted to confirm Eric Holder as the first African-American attorney general, by a vote of 75 to 21.
Holder, whose confirmation came as no surprise because of the broad support he gained from members of both parties, has vowed to take the Justice Department in a vastly different direction than his Bush administration predecessors.
At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Holder made his agenda clear: He affirmed his belief that waterboarding, an interrogation tactic that simulates drowning, is torture. Holder drew applause for his support of the shuttering of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and declared that the department needs to be independent of politics.
Bush administration officials, including former Attorneys General Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey, declined to take a hard-line stance on waterboarding, and a series of reports has criticized the Gonzales-era department for its partisan wrangling, most notably the allegedly politically motivated firings of at least nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Battling a touch of laryngitis, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., had glowing praise for Holder before the vote, touting his support from numerous law enforcement, legal and victim advocacy groups, as well as his stated commitment to changing the course of the Justice Department.
“I am more convinced than ever that Eric Holder is a person who will reinvigorate the Department of Justice and serve ably as a key member of the president’s national security team,” Leahy said. “He will pursue the Justice Department’s vital missions with skill, integrity, independence and a commitment to the rule of law.”
Leahy also highlighted Holder’s experience; he served as Attorney General Janet Reno’s deputy, as a federal judge and as the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., during his 25-year tenure at the Justice Department.
But key Republicans had initially balked at Holder’s nomination, questioning his judgment on several controversial commutations and pardons during the Clinton administration, most notably that of fugitive financier Marc Rich.
But Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, publicly endorsed Holder last week after giving the matter “considerable thought.”
The next day, the panel voted to send his nomination to the full Senate, by a vote of 17 to 2. Despite the committee's support for Holder, though, some Republicans would not waiver in their opposition to him.
Earlier Monday, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., took the floor of the Senate, contending that Holder left too many questions unanswered during his confirmation process. Calling his role in the Clinton pardons “very troubling” and saying that, in Holder’s case, “Independence is lacking. Candor is lacking. And judgment is lacking,” Coburn said he would not vote to confirm him as attorney general.
The other committee member who voted against sending Holder's nomination to the full Senate, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also said he could not vote for Holder because of his record on pardons and commutations, as well as his “lack of seriousness” on fighting Islamic extremism and his “apparent hostility” toward the Second Amendment, which concerns the right to bear arms.
Vice President Joe Biden is slated to swear Holder in at the Justice Department Tuesday morning.
February 2, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (50)
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God Keeps Blessing Us - Change Is Here!
Posted by: Dr. Terri L. Jenkins | Feb 2, 2009 6:52:23 PM
Now here's a surprise! Not a tax cheat, but a tax cheat enabler!
Posted by: LongT | Feb 2, 2009 6:59:35 PM
The fix is in on Obama's presidential pardons in 2012!
Posted by: LongT | Feb 2, 2009 7:06:10 PM
Cool, now we have an Attorney General who previously pardoned 16 FALN terrorists when he was Deputy Attorney General under Clinton! Every day of CHANGE is better than the last.
Posted by: Stacy | Feb 2, 2009 7:08:34 PM
LOOK AT ALL the Democratic tax cheats!!!
Rangel, Geitner, and now Daschle who cheated the IRS out of 128,000 and once said people should be prosecuted who cheat on taxes. WAIT A DARN minute!!!Average Americans are threatened everyday by the IRS and all the democrats just say they made a mistake years after they have cheated. Who is running this country? Cheating democrats or the people. Answer--Cheating Democrats!!!
Posted by: rockychance | Feb 2, 2009 7:16:21 PM
What can we expect? Both Coburn and Corynin are pals of Rush Lumbagh. He is their leader.
Posted by: beto | Feb 2, 2009 7:17:23 PM
Yet another Obama mistake. This guy took care of getting pardons for Marc Rich, a criminal on the 10 most wanted list, and other terrorists. Obama is now making more mistakes than any other newly elected president in history.
Posted by: Brian | Feb 2, 2009 7:21:58 PM
It seems U.S. enemies donated billions to Obama's campaign and now Obama is paying them back. Former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Holder was involved in the tragic Elian Gonzalez case – forcing a young boy to return to Castro’s dictatorship in Cuba to be raised as a Communist. Can a friend of Fidel Castro want the best for Americans?
Posted by: AntonioSosa | Feb 2, 2009 7:25:04 PM
Stacy and Long T: Sarcasm will never compensate for Ashcroft and Gonzalez (especially Gonzalez). Bush is now back in Texas - deal with it.
Posted by: bill wilson | Feb 2, 2009 7:25:49 PM
Perhaps he wont use illegal tactics to select politically charged attorneys and judges like Gonzalas did. The federal judiciary is loaded with radicals at this time.
Posted by: Moral City USA | Feb 2, 2009 7:28:00 PM
To each of the folks who seem to be thinking Eric Holder won't measure up to the folks in the Bush Administration who did such a bang-up job:
Did you miss the last eight years of newspapers? Or is your TV permanently tuned to Fox Noise?
Posted by: bill wilson | Feb 2, 2009 7:30:03 PM
Thank you my Dear Media for pointing that out......So does this mean now you will tell us on each new President from now on and each new post that is filled and senate seat that is filled how many whites, blacks and hispanics this makes for that position? Since the media has now made it a huge issue of race they should now say " This is the 345 White President of the United States" etc etc etc.....
Posted by: Karl | Feb 2, 2009 7:32:56 PM
Brian,
The operative phrase being "newly elected".
Posted by: David Barry | Feb 2, 2009 7:35:19 PM
It seems like the President could have found better people to nominate for these key jobs. If this kind of change continues, I might have to bail.
Posted by: DB Cooper | Feb 2, 2009 7:36:16 PM
We just need to wait a bit, Bill
How will Eric deal with
- Rezko and Blago etc and Fitzgeralds continued investigations into Chicago politics.
- ACORN (huh actually the issue that tripped up Gonzalez, Holder will get it on the other side)
- Maybe they'll find its better to keep the GITMO trials in military tribunals -how would Eric's Justice Dept take responsibility for terror given track record
Posted by: robert b | Feb 2, 2009 7:36:42 PM
Great now the guy who covered up Oklahoma City is going to go after private gun ownership. Hope you trust the guys with face masks and black uniforms. "Don't move, we are the Government and we are here to "help" now sit down, put your hands up, and tell us where your "illegal firearms" are... RIGHT NOW!!!" When guns are banned only criminals will have guns. And government is SO helpful when they confiscate your firearms BEFORE the hurricane hits, and THEN let looters STEAL whatever you have left, like in New Orleans in Katrina. Just like the shop owners in LA defending their stores with firearms and getting PROSECUTED after the fact when the riots ended, when the cops "decided" to restore order along with the National Guard. Get ready America, "it's" about to hit the fan!!!
Posted by: hmn... | Feb 2, 2009 7:45:45 PM
When will idiots like Coburn and Cornyn stop embarrasing America with their "lack of independence and seriousness"?
Posted by: GMAB | Feb 2, 2009 7:46:23 PM
Lets just hold up and see what happens
Posted by: Roy Barnett | Feb 2, 2009 8:03:41 PM
Bill; Yeah I know, but it's sure fun!
Posted by: LongT | Feb 2, 2009 8:12:32 PM
Holder can't be worse than Reno!
Posted by: LongT | Feb 2, 2009 8:14:11 PM
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