The Attorney General of Rollback: Eric Holder is "the anti-Gonzales."

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: The Attorney General of Rollback
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, November 19, 2008

If President-elect Barack Obama is the anti-Bush, then Eric Holder, his apparent choice to serve as attorney general, is the anti-Gonzales. The tenure of Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general from 2005 to 2007 -- and before that, as White House counsel -- was marked by what critics described as torture, illegal surveillance and the overt politicization of the Justice Department. Holder, by contrast, could offer a restoration of the department's traditional role.

Eric Lichtblau and John M. Broder write in the New York Times: "If Mr. Holder is selected as attorney general and confirmed by the Senate, his biggest challenge, legal observers agree, will be to restore the credibility of a department that was badly battered by political scandal during the Bush administration. The dismissal of eight United States attorneys in 2007 and other controversies opened up the Justice Department to accusations that it had routinely let politics trump legal considerations."

Josh Meyer writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Supporters describe Holder as someone capable of engineering the kind of swift and significant course corrections that Obama has pledged to make at the Justice Department, which has been beset in recent years by one political controversy after another."...

Carrie Johnson writes in The Washington Post: "'It's fantastic that he will be a great attorney general,' said John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 'It's also significant that he will be the first African American attorney general. . . . His mission is going to be to restore the soul of the Department of Justice.'"

Jason Tuohey blogs for the Boston Globe: "Judging by his past statements, Eric Holder Jr., reportedly Barack Obama's top pick for attorney general, may aim to roll back several of the Bush administration's most controversial legal moves if he is selected for the post."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/11/19/BL2008111902194_pf.html

[Deep13]

1. Fist-bump!

*bump!*

[lostnotforgotten]

2. This Sounds Like A Great Selection For AG

eom

[Gman2]

3. I dont like the guys med mari stand.

I hope he is told to shelve it and do Obama's bidding.

[glowing]

4. Well, if marijuana is legalized, then he won't have to worry about prosecuting it.

Personally, I would legalize it, tax it, and be done with it.. There is simply not enough money to worry about running around after a plant.

[Deep13]

7. Does Obama agree with medical marijuana?

I don't really know.

[amdezurik]

10. before the election kinda

now not so much...

[amdezurik]

9. or on death squads...

[notadmblnd]

5. I wish he had considered Fitzgerald

[Deep13]

8. Maybe he did.

:shrug:

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. K&R