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WASHINGTON - Eric Holder is in line for nomination by President-elect Barack Obama to the attorney general's job that Holder has long wanted, but the 2001 episode with fugitive financier Marc Rich is stirring partisan acrimony. The role of the former deputy attorney general in the pardon of Rich opened Holder to strong criticism from Capitol Hill in a political uproar that Republicans refuse to forget nearly eight years later. The Republican National Committee is resurrecting the episode, circulating an e-mail Wednesday that asks, "Why does Obama want to appoint an attorney general with a long history of controversial pardons?"...

The transition to a new administration is underway and people are naturally curious about what to expect at the Department of Justice. Asked to check into this, I called on friends inside and outside the Justice Department, on the Hill, and in think tanks. No one seems to have a very clear or full picture yet, although there are some hints in specific areas which I’ll deal with below.

This arises out of the Elian Gonzalez mess back in the Clinton years when the boy was forcibly removed from his home at gunpoint by federal agents. Then Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder flatly denied in an interview with Fox News that the child was taken at gunpoint. Judge Andrew Napolitano nails him. More . . .

Most notable among the petitions for clemency granted during Holder’s tenure is the request from 16 members of a Puerto Rican Marxist terrorist group, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by its Spanish acronym FALN, which engaged in a robbery and terror campaign in both the U.S. and Puerto Rico during the 1970s and 1980s. The clemency petition, which was supported by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-N.Y.), Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), became the subject of fiery controversy after it was revealed that none of the convicted terrorists had renounced violence and that their victims had not been...

As we observed throughout the campaign, Barack Obama gave indications that his election would mean a return to the September 10 mentality, a national-security outlook marked prominently by its lack of seriousness about the terrorist threat. In choosing Eric Holder to be his attorney general, President-Elect Obama has taken a step toward confirming those misgivings. [...] Holder is a conventional, check-the-boxes creature of the Left. He is convinced justice in America needs to be “established” rather than enforced; he’s excited about hate crimes and enthusiastic about the constitutionally dubious Violence Against Women Act; he’s a supporter of affirmative action and...

Last night, Larry King had four guests on his show to discuss the nomination of Eric Holder to become Attorney General. Even though Holder's role in the pardon of fugitive Marc Rich by Bill Clinton was highly controversial, not one of the guests had any real problem with that. Somehow Larry King couldn't find a single guest who would offer arguments against the appointment of Eric Holder. To get you up to speed on Holder's role in the Marc Rich pardon, here is an Associated Press story on this subject from last June: The last time Washington attorney Eric Holder...

As we wrote yesterday, Obama has apparently picked Eric Holder, one of his veep vetters and a former deputy attorney general under Bill Clinton, for attorney general. Holder is black, which would be a first for the Cabinet position, and rocks a mustache, which isn't a historical first, but certainly can't hurt his prospects. But what could harm him are the concerns coming from both the right and the left — most notably, Holder's role in facilitating the infamous Marc Rich pardon. Of course, anyone who's spent more than twenty minutes in the halls of Washington has done something they...

Here is a video report on the news that Eric Holder is likely to become the Attorney General of the United States. Holder has reportedly been offered the job by Barack Obama, and has accepted. One possible hitch: Holder was involved in the Clinton pardon of Mark Rich just as Bill Clinton was leaving office. . . . (Watch Video)

President-elect Barack Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder, a Washington lawyer who served as the No. 2 official in the Clinton Justice Department, as his next attorney general.

Specifically, in our ongoing efforts to establish justice in our country, we must constantly strive to ensure that the ideal of equality is the guiding principle of all governmental action. For without equality of opportunity, there can be no justice. It is a fundamental responsibility of government to insure that everyone be given an equal chance to succeed, unencumbered by discrimination. This is the "equality of opportunity" and not the "equality of result" to which we, as a society, must aspire. But theory is not adequate; we must put that platitude into practice. The only way that we can expect...

A forthcoming Congressional report on the last-minute pardons by President Bill Clinton says Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was a ''willing participant in the plan to keep the Justice Department from knowing about and opposing'' a pardon for Marc Rich, the financier. The 476-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, harshly criticizes the Clinton White House for its handling of the 177 pardons and commutations granted on its last day... < snip > The most controversial pardon went to Mr. Rich, a commodities trader who fled the country in 1983 rather than...

President-elect Barack Obama's aides have privately asked senators whether Washington attorney Eric Holder would be confirmed as the next attorney general, according to a person involved in the talks. The talks suggest that Obama is deeply interested in Holder, who served as the No. 2 official in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton. A former U.S. attorney, Holder is among Washington's most prominent defense attorneys. He would be the first black attorney general in U.S. history. In the past week, Obama aides have asked Senate Republicans whether they would support Holder. In particular, the aides questioned whether Holder's confirmation...

According to Newsweek President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition. Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal “vetting” review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. But in the discussions over the past few days,...

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has decided on Eric Holder to be attorney general, Newsweek said Tuesday, citing two legal sources close to Obama's transition team.

This week in its series, “The New Team,” The New York Times profiles Jamie Gorelick, (pronounced Guh-REH-lick), very possibly America’s next attorney general. In the way of “baggage,” reporter Eric Lichtblau cites her past employment as vice chairwoman at Fannie Mae and her role in creating the famed intelligence “wall” while deputy attorney general under Clinton. Lichtblau may not be aware, however, of her most significant contribution to American security, or lack of the same, the one that put her in position to earn what the Times reports as “$25.6 million in salary and other compensation from 1998 to 2003”...

Goal Is to Restore Confidence in Law Enforcement Actions As a transition team for the Obama administration begins work on a Justice Department overhaul, the key question is where to begin. Political considerations affected every crevice of the department during the Bush years, from the summer intern hiring program to the dispensing of legal advice about detainee interrogations, according to reports by the inspector general and testimony from bipartisan former DOJ officials at congressional hearings. Although retired federal judge Michael B. Mukasey, who took charge of the department last winter, has drawn praise for limiting contacts between White House officials...

President-elect Barack Obama will be taking office in January, and his transition team will have plenty to deal with. Jamie S. Gorelick, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and former deputy U.S. attorney general, said at the The Deal's M&A Outlook 2009 conference on Tuesday that the president-elect will take a centrist stance on policy targeted to restart the economy. His centrist stance can be seen in his unnatural calmness during crises of his campaigning as well as in his resistance to partisan and personal attacks on the campaign trail, Gorelick said. She added that she...

Transition: Jamie Gorelick may be back, this time as attorney general. It was her "wall of separation" that that left us blind pre-9/11. And let's not forget her admirable service at Fannie Mae.Not many people can claim to have been at the center of arguably the greatest financial disaster and greatest national security disaster in American history. But Gorelick, said to be on the short list for attorney general by the New York Times, can. Surely that qualifies her for further government service. Gorelick earned an estimated $26 million serving as vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1998 to 2003....

President-elect Barack Obama has 11 weeks to build a new administration and he's wasting no time, offering the job of White House chief of staff to Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) on Wednesday. *snip* Who else is on the list? Attorney general Names include Eric Holder, a former D.C. federal judge and deputy attorney general; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano; Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general; James Comey, former deputy attorney general and Lockheed Martin general counsel; Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Someone please tell me that my eyes are decieving me! Jaime Gorelick? For A.G.? Just when I thought that the pestialential swamp that is Washington D.C. could not get any murkier, this comes out. This woman, arguably, is at least partially responsible for 9/11, as well as being intimately involved in the pardon of all sorts shady, or downright criminal, Clinton era miscreants, including our all time favorite Marc Rich who, once safely out from under the thumb of the IRS, went on to bigger and better things like the UNs' oil for food program. And then, a nice cushy,...