Eric Holder Confirmed-- Republican Obstructionist Caucus Thwarted

How long will it take for the new Attorney General to wash away the disgrace of Alberto Gonzales?

Today the Senate finally confirmed the nomination of Eric Holder as the new Attorney General. Several Republican obstructionists are worried-- as they should be-- that he will be less interested in serving the demands of the top 1% of Americans and will re-organize the Justice Department to reflect priorities more in line with American working families. In the 75-21 confirmation vote the hard-line Obstructionist Caucus has now crystallized. The leader, of course, is Jim DeMint (R-SC) and his followers, the serial obstructionists at the bottom of the GOP barrel are Jim Bunning (R-KY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Tom Coburn (R-OK), David Diapers Vitter (R-LA), James Risch (R-ID), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC), Michael Crapo (R-ID), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Miss McConnell (R-KY), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL), John Ensign (R-NV), John Thune (R-SD), and John Barrasso (R-WY). The Associated Press naively summarized the vote like this: "A small group of Republicans said they opposed Holder. They argued he was hostile to gun control and doesn't fully support the war on terrorism."

I mean no one could possibly think he's not going to be a much better Attorney General than John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales, not even a Republican, so what it really comes down to is their whole Government is The Bad Guy agenda. Writing in today's Washington Post about Obama's Stimulus Package, at the "top 1%" link above, former labor Secretary Robert Reich talks about the economic imbalance between the 1% of the wealthiest Americans and the rest of us. Do you think for one second that that economic imbalance is not reflected in a power imbalance, one that a Justice Department working for America's working families rather than America's richest families, couldn't help rebalance... at least a bit? "What happened to the money," asks Reich.

According to researchers Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, since the late 1970s, a greater and greater share of national income has gone to people at the top of the earnings ladder. As late as 1976, the richest 1 percent of the country took home about 9 percent of the total national income. By 2006, they were pocketing more than 20 percent. But the rich don't spend as much of
their income as the middle class and the poor do-- after all, being rich means that you already have most of what you need. That's why the concentration of income at the top can lead to a big shortfall in overall demand and send the economy into a tailspin. (It's not coincidental that 1928 was the last time that the top 1 percent took home more than 20 percent of the nation's income.)

The disgrace of the Senate Ethics Committee closing its books on 2008 today without taking a single disciplinary action against anyone-- not Vitter, not Ted Stevens, who was convicted on 7 felony charges, not Larry Craig, and not Pete "Sneaky Pete" Domenici, who actually tampered with the Justice Department and got David Iglesias fired for not pressing politically-motivated and baseless charges-- makes it even more crucial that we have a professional and non-politicized Justice Department working on behalf of the country, not on behalf of the rich and powerful status quo and the political Establishment they support. And today's NY Times makes the point that more than any other Department, Justice will be a place where there is change-- "a broad doctrinal shift in policies from those of the Bush administration."

Mr. Holder will have to contend with that [creation of a new detention policy for terrorism suspects] and other issues rapidly. Lawyers inside and outside the department say he will face crushing time constraints. Chief among them is a pledge by President Obama to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within a year. Mr. Holder and a department task force must find a solution to the question of what to do with the remaining prisoners there and any apprehended in the future.

"This will be a sea change of what went on before," said an Obama administration lawyer, noting that the principal authority over detention policies will move from the Defense Department under the Bush administration to the Justice Department.

...Mr. Holder will also have to make several quick decisions because of court-imposed deadlines. And he will have to do so with many of the senior positions in the department not yet filled.

The department has to decide by next month whether it will reverse course from the Bush administration, which had repeatedly invoked the so-called state secrets doctrine to shut down legal challenges to several lawsuits dealing with national security. Officials also face a February deadline on whether to extend habeas corpus rights to detainees at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

"I can't imagine a more challenging time to come in as attorney general," said Walter Dellinger, a legal scholar who was an acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration. "The number of legal issues left behind to be resolved is really staggering."

In the Justice Department, there is considerable restiveness as employees await new direction. The civil rights division, which had been reshaped in a conservative direction under President George W. Bush, is ripe for sharp change, administration officials said.

"Many of us cannot wait for the changes," said one career lawyer in the division, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the atmosphere.

The lawyer said there were expectations that the division would be restored to its historic role of largely enforcing prohibitions against racial and ethnic discrimination. Under the Bush administration, the division significantly diminished its involvement in those areas and shifted resources to fighting instances of religious discrimination.

...The shift is expected to be more stark than that of a transition from one party to another. It may resemble the start of the Reagan administration, with its promise of wide philosophical change to be put into effect by a cadre of enthusiastic outsiders and academics, whose views on how to run the department have simmered after years of watching from the outside.

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) sums up the confirmation vote smartly:

"The confirmation of Eric Holder as our new Attorney General is a momentous day for the rule of law. During his confirmation hearings, Eric Holder clearly and unequivocally stated that no one, including the president, is above the law. Those were welcome words after eight years of Bush Administration policies that undermined our Constitution and damaged the integrity of the Department of Justice. Mr. Holder has a distinguished record of public service, the independence and strength of character needed for this particular post, and an understanding of the importance of revitalizing the Department of Justice. I look forward to working with him to restore the rule of law and protect the safety, security, rights and liberties of the American people."

Special thanks to Marcy Wheeler for the blow-by-blow from the Senate chamber.