"No! Why!"...
Eric Holder Jr., the nation's first black U.S. attorney general, is preparing to announce his resignation Thursday after a tumultuous tenure marked by civil rights advances, national security threats, reforms to the criminal justice system and five and a half years of fights with Republicans in Congress.
Two sources familiar with the decision tell NPR that Holder, 63, intends to leave the Justice Department as soon as his successor is confirmed, a process that could run through 2014 and even into next year. A former U.S. government official says Holder has been increasingly "adamant" about his desire to leave soon for fear he otherwise could be locked in to stay for much of the rest of President Obama's second term.
In April, Holder indicated he would not resign until after the midterm elections. Potential replacements are, as of yet, unclear. His tenure with the Department of Justice has been controversial at best, and at its worst, deadly. His radical "civil rights" agenda won't be missed by most, but Holder hopes the history books will remember him as a hero:
What would Eric Holder say?...
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely U.S. Voters have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the Justice Department, while 53% view it unfavorably. This includes only nine percent (9%) with a Very Favorable view and 26% with a Very Unfavorable one. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Just 35% think the Justice Department is more concerned with making sure justice is done when it decides to investigate a local crime independent of local police. But 54% think instead that the Justice Department is more concerned with politics when it makes those decisions. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided. ... This distrust of the feds carries over into views of a planned new federal database to track “misinformation” and hate speech on the social media site Twitter. Thirty-five percent (35%) believe the federal government will use the database to go after real criminals, but 53% believe it will be used to monitor law-abiding citizens instead. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.Attorney General Eric Holder's recent intervention in Ferguson, Missouri has shone a light on problems with the way the DoJ approaches its duty. Problems within the DoJ---especially those involving racial issues--- are nothing new, but the increased news coverage on the scandals surrounding the DoJ appears to be doing its job. For example, the Rasmussen poll reflects the general sentiment exhibited by conservative pundits commenting on the suggestion that Obama appoint a "Police Czar". Only 20% of voters approve of federal control over local police departments, and the lack of evidence that a federal civil rights crime occurred on the night Michael Brown died has people like Andrew McCarthy on the alert:
Justice Department officials say the unusually aggressive federal intervention is justified by the continuing violence and apparent mishandling of the case by local officials, who have been criticized for displaying excessive force against protesters and moving too slowly to investigate the Aug. 9 shooting. But law enforcement officials and other experts could not recall another instance in which Washington pushed ahead with a federal civil rights case as it has in Ferguson, almost elbowing state officials out of the way.Fortunately for America, Holder also took time out of his busy schedule to get in on a selfie:
A man takes a selfie with Attorney General Eric Holder #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/SI8jScJfJ2
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 20, 2014In a sign that Holder's campaign is gaining traction in the area, a group of African American lawyers held a news conference Tuesday in front of the St. Louis County courthouse, calling on local prosecutor Robert McCulloch to recuse himself. They said the federal investigation should proceed first because McCulloch appears to be "emotionally invested in protecting law enforcement." Yet with all of Holder's determination, the reality is that state prosecutions almost always go first and that a federal civil rights case could be harder to build and win than a state case involving a charge of murder or manslaughter.
Attorney General helped return young Cuban refugee to Castro at gunpoint...
It wasn’t the biggest story following Tuesday’s elections in various states, but it was the biggest and most-ignored non-story. Mississippi’s new voter ID law got its first run in the June 3 primary, and the sky did not fall. Despite the tiresome and disproven claims by opponents that such laws cause wholesale voter disenfranchisement and are intended to suppress votes, Mississippi “sailed through” its first test of the new ID requirements, according to The Clarion Ledger, the newspaper of Jackson, Miss. Aside from being able to use any form of government-issued photo ID, like every other state with ID requirements, Mississippi provides a free ID for anyone who does not already have a government-issued photo ID. Contrary to the claims of those who say large numbers of Americans don’t have an ID, Mississippi estimated that only 0.8 percent of Mississippians lacked an ID. In fact, even that may have been an overestimate since the state had to issue only about 1,000 voter ID cards. All those who forgot their ID on Tuesday also could vote by an affidavit as long as they returned and showed an ID within five days.
In a 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,” Risen detailed classified information about the CIA’s efforts to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. Prosecutors want Risen to testify in its prosecution of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA analyst. A district judge had said Risen did not have to testify. But a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond disagreed in a 2 to 1 decision. The majority said that under Supreme Court precedent, the First Amendment does not protect reporters from revealing who supplied them with unauthorized leaks. “Risen’s direct, firsthand account of the criminal conduct indicted by the grand jury cannot be obtained by alternative means, as Risen is without dispute the only witness who can offer this critical testimony,’’ wrote Circuit Judge William Byrd Traxler Jr.The NY Times reports on the significance of today's court action, Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Reporter Over Identity of Source:
Ball now in Eric Holder's court -- expect delay of game....
Eric Holder will stay on in his job as Attorney General at least through the mid-term elections in November. From Reuters, via Yahoo News: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to stay on through November's mid-term elections and has no timeline for an exit after that, a...
Attorney General Eric Holder advises state AGs that they may disregard their oaths of office: Holder said state attorneys general do not have to enforce laws they disagree with, specifically when it comes to the issue of gay marriage. "It is highly unusual for the United States...
I wonder who he thinks they will vote for? Let me think about that a while, ahem, tough call....
This is not about Chris Christie. It’s about any number of other Republican candidates who will be met with the same faux-outrage and media-led obsession a year from now as the 2016 field begins to define itself. Don’t feed the beast.It's getting worse, as the feds are piling on. Within days of Bridgegate, Eric Holder and the U.S. Attorney's Office were on the case. Funny how quickly the feds move against a potential Republican contender. Now the feds are piling on some more by leaking that they are investigating this ad paid for with Sandy relief funds. That ad, Jim Geraghty points out, was Approved by Obama Administration: Featuring a sitting Governor in tourism ads is completely routine. It gives a personal touch to the tourism campaign. Here are other examples (via Louise Mensch):
It was widely reported earlier this week that there was a mass coaching of Mexicans as to which phrases to use at the border to gain them temporary asylum, including lodging: A sudden influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico requesting asylum is overwhelming immigration agents in...
This no longer is about George Zimmerman, it's about a Department of Justice serving political interests....
He's not Eric de Torquemada, he has regrets....
So he made some mistakes. Name an Attorney General who hasn't made mistakes. Okay, more than "some" mistakes: We were right all along, admit it, HuffPo. Come on, man and woman up. A simple, "we're sorry" will do. Actually, no it won't....
