Holder Client List at Covington Could be Issue in Hearings
Some Republicans plan to question attorney general nominee Eric Holder about his representation of corporate clients as a litigation partner at Covington & Burling.
Holder’s confirmation hearings are due to begin Thursday, and he faces increasing resistance, the Washington Post reports. Among the controversies expected to be probed are his role in the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich and reduced sentences for Puerto Rican nationalists. But his corporate links could also be at issue, report the Post, the New York Times and Legal Times.
Some Republicans want to know how Holder would decide issues involving past clients, the New York Times story says.
Holder has represented Chiquita Brands International, which was accused in a lawsuit of paying protection money to terrorists, the Times story says. He has represented the NFL during the dogfighting scandal involving Michael Vick, and drugmaker Merck in an overbilling case. Another client was UBS, under investigation for alleged tax and accounting misconduct, the Post says.
Holder even briefly represented Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in an Illinois casino investigation that was dropped after the state attorney general intervened, according to the New York Times. Holder failed to mention the Blagojevich link, but he later corrected the omission, the Post says.
Washington, D.C., lawyer Terry Collingsworth is suing Chiquita in the protection money case. “We’ve had eight years of an administration that turned a blind eye to corporate criminals,” Collingsworth told the New York Times. “We need someone with his level of experience and cachet to clean up the Justice Department. Yet I do have a concern and I sure hope that he doesn’t carry over his corporate defense practice into his approach to the job and how he handles these types of cases.”
Some prominent Republicans are supporting Holder, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among them are former solicitor general Theodore Olson, who told the newspaper in an e-mail that he supports confirmation.
The Wall Street Journal story says questions about Holder’s legal work “aren’t likely to derail” his nomination.
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