Will Eric Holder be Obama’s Most Controversial Nominee?
Senate Republicans are seeking documents about Eric Holder’s role in three clemency cases and other controversial issues arising from his work in the Clinton-era Justice Department.
The attorney general nominee is preparing for a fight, Legal Times reports. He is seeking advice from lawyers who include Steptoe & Johnson’s Reid Weingarten, and former Zuckerman Spaeder partner Ronald Weich, chief counsel to the Senate majority leader.
Senate Republicans have asked for a delay in Holder’s Jan. 8 confirmation hearing for more time to prepare, the Los Angeles Times reports. Among the critics is Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter says he is concerned about Holder’s role in the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose wife was a Clinton contributor.
“I think it is imperative we be sure the attorney general of the United States does not bend his views to accommodate his appointer,” Specter said in a floor speech.
Holder also had a role in the clemency cases of 16 members of the Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN and cocaine trafficker Carlos Vignali, whose father supported Latino lawmakers, the Los Angeles Times story says.
The Legal Times story says there is no suggestion the Senate will vote against Holder for attorney general, but some may use his confirmation hearing as a way to weaken Obama.
Stephen Hess, senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution, told Legal Times that Holder appears to be Obama’s only “flash point” nominee. “Senators seem to demand that there always be one” nominee who faces a difficult hearing, he said.
