JUSTICE IS IN THE EYE OF THE BE-HOLDER

During his senate confirmation hearings,
Holder was asked to imitate a chicken.





Eighth in a series examining the Obama Cabinet


(Feb. 3, Washington, DC) Eric Holder was sworn in today as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States. Holder received Senate confirmation by a comfortable margin even though he was expected to have a tough grilling during the confirmation hearings. Mr. Holder was involved in several high profile controversies while working in the DOJ during the Bill Clinton Administration such as the FBI raid that seized Elian Gonzalez and the Presidential pardons of members of the Puerto Rican radical group, FALN, and Mark Rich, a big time Clinton donor. Holder presented himself well during the hearings explaining his position on the legality of torture and many other Constitutional issues from the Bush Administration. He may have to decide to charge Bush and others with war crimes in the future.

On the same day that saw two other Obama Cabinet appointees have to remove themselves for consideration due to personal tax problems, (Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer, the President's picks for Health and Human Services Secretary and Chief Performance Officer, respectively) the Holder swearing in was the bright moment in Obama’s day. “Eric has my full faith and confidence and he will restore impartiality and respect to the Department of Justice which was severely tarnished during the Cheney - Bush Administration. He is also capable of imitating many barnyard and domestic animals. He’s great fun at a party”, commented President Obama.

AG Holder will be put to the test very early in his tenure as he and his Department are expected to deliver what will be the first of many opinions on matters of national security, domestic surveillance, and torture within the next month. Any appearance of partisanship in his opinions will certainly escalate the already partisan environment evidenced in the Capitol thus far into President Obama’s term.

Mr. Holder is the first African American to serve the nation as Attorney general.


Links:

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/02/holder_to_doj.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/03/holder.swearing/

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=6794590&page=1

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