Free Republic

Sixteen appointees and advisers helping president-elect Barack Obama's Justice Department transition efforts all recently sat on the board of an organization little known outside legal circles: The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. The liberal legal network, which blossomed during eight years of Democratic exile, counts as its veterans Obama’s choice for attorney general, Eric Holder: Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain; and future White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown. Seven other recent board members are advising the incoming administration on legal, education, and labor-related issues. Theresa Wynn Roseborough is rumored to be a top candidate...

The 2010 midterm elections and the resulting battles over redistricting will shape the future of both political parties. A case challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is being offered to the Supreme Court, highlighting these political stakes. And President-elect Barack Obama's Justice Department is about to take center stage in this fight. The Constitution requires legislative districts be redrawn after each decennial national census. The 2010 midterm elections will determine the makeup of all 50 state legislatures. With few exceptions, these legislatures will then draw new lines of all congressional districts, as well as many state legislative...

Holder omitted Blagojevich link from questionnaire Announced as a ‘special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board’ in 2004 December 17, 2008 BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter/cfusco@suntimes.com Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license. Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" -- a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000. Holder, however, omitted that event from...

U.S. Attorney General-designate Eric Holder failed to mention legal work he did for embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in disclosures, observers said. Blagojevich and Holder appeared together in 2004 to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board," an effort to sort out a mess involving Illinois' unawarded casino license. But the job, for which Holder's law firm was to be paid $300,000, was not mentioned in a 47-page response to a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday."Eric Holder has given hundreds of press interviews," Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter told the Sun-Times...

Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license. Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" -- a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000. Holder, however, omitted that event from his 47-page response to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire made public this week -- an oversight he plans to correct after a Chicago Sun-Times inquiry, Obama's...

December 16, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Telling NominationBig plans for the American justice system. By Ken Blackwell President-Elect Barack Obama’s nomination of Eric Holder to be attorney general surprised many. There are reasons that Holder ought not to be confirmed, but regardless of that, his nomination tells us quite a bit about Obama and the Supreme Court he will likely give this country. Most of the president-elect’s Cabinet appointments have been praised, from Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary to Bill Richardson as commerce secretary. Others have been seen as reasonable but with reservations — such as Hillary Clinton as secretary...

A conservative senator would be a true American hero if he or she would put a hold on -- i.e., threaten to filibuster -- the nomination of Eric Holder to be the next attorney general. Let me be clear: I don’t believe that conservatives should use the filibuster to block Holder. But I do think the filibuster is an excellent procedural tool to force a needed debate. Senators should explore Holder’s views on the right to bear arms and the Elian Gonzales raid before they consent to his appointment. The Second Amendment is sacrosanct to all freedom-loving Americans. Yet Holder,...

Senate Republicans are demanding Democrats slow down the process of confirming Eric Holder, signaling President-elect Obama’s choice for attorney general has a tough road ahead. At least five GOP senators are echoing concerns raised earlier in the week by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who wants more time for hearings and to examine the role Holder played in the Marc Rich scandal. The fugitive financier was pardoned during the last hours of the Clinton administration. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Holder has emerged as Obama’s single most contentious nominee so far, among a group that includes other past partisans...

One of Barack Obama’s first acts as president should be to instruct his attorney general to appoint an independent prosecutor to initiate a criminal investigation of former Bush Administration officials who gave the green light to torture. At Obama’s press conference on Dec. 1, he spoke of upholding America’s highest values as he introduced Eric Holder as his choice for attorney general. Holder insisted there was no tension between protecting the people of the United States and adhering to our Constitution. A few months ago, Holder was even more explicit. “Our government authorized the use of torture, approved of secret...

Soon after Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, the former president and I had a brief telephone conversation. I had been downright heated about the pardon, a lot angrier than I had ever been about Monica Lewinsky. Clinton implied that I had things historically backward. Long after the Rich pardon had been forgotten, he said, the Lewinsky scandal would remain a vivid memory. That day is yet to come. The Rich pardon is back. The vehicle for this lingering echo from the year 2001 is the choice of Eric Holder as Barack Obama's attorney general. Holder was Clinton's deputy attorney general...

Pardoning Terror   By John PerazzoFrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, December 03, 2008 During Barack Obama’s presidential run, Eric Holder, Bill Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General from 1997 to 2001, campaigned heavily for the then-Illinois senator. This past summer, Obama tapped Holder to serve on the vice presidential selection team that ultimately chose Joe Biden to be Obama’s running mate. Now Holder may receive his own position in the Obama administration, which he has been nominated to serve as Attorney General. Holder brings a resume rich with titles to the job. He also brings a history of aiding terrorists, foreign and domestic....

Eric Holder, Jack Quinn and the Rich pardon (updated below - Update II) Two weeks ago, in a largely positive assessment about Obama's likely Attorney General nominee -- entitled "Preliminary facts and thoughts about Eric Holder" -- I wrote: Holder's involvement in the sleazy Marc Rich pardon is definitely a blemish, though, given his peripheral role, it's a relatively minor one. Since then, The New York Times has published two pieces -- an Op-Ed by George Lardner and this article today by Eric Lichtblau and David Johnston -- which make conclusively clear that the word "peripheral" is inaccurate. Though Holder...

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "During Barack Obama’s presidential run, Eric Holder, Bill Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General from 1997 to 2001, campaigned heavily for the then-Illinois senator. This past summer, Obama tapped Holder to serve on the vice presidential selection team that ultimately chose Joe Biden to be Obama’s running mate. Now Holder may receive his own position in the Obama administration, which he has been nominated to serve as Attorney General." ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Nearly ten years after the FALN pardons, Holder is once again set to enter the Attorney General’s office – this time as its head. But before assuming that important...

Admission: Lawrence O'Donnell is emerging as one of my favorite media liberals. On the one hand, almost exactly one year ago, his anti-Mormon rant spurred me to action. But lately, watching him as a frequent MSNBC guest, I've been impressed by his acumen and willingness to call them as he sees them. Take O'Donnell's intervention on tonight's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," where he made the salient point that the scandal of the Marc Rich pardon is, ironically, being held against AG nominee Eric Holder . . . while Hillary Clinton skates. View video here.

Soon after Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, the former president and I had a brief telephone conversation. I had been downright heated about the pardon, a lot angrier than I had ever been about Monica Lewinsky. Clinton implied that I had things historically backward. Long after the Rich pardon had been forgotten, he said, the Lewinsky scandal would remain a vivid memory. That day is yet to come. The Rich pardon is back.

In the much praised career of Eric H. Holder Jr., President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be attorney general, there is one notable blemish: Mr. Holder’s complicated role in the 2001 pardon of Marc Rich, a billionaire financier who had fled the country rather than face federal tax evasion charges. Mr. Holder’s supporters portray him as having been a relatively uninvolved bystander caught in a Clinton-era controversy, the remarkable granting of a last-minute pardon by President Bill Clinton to a fugitive from justice. But interviews and an examination of Congressional records show that Mr. Holder, who at the time of the...

WASHINGTON — In the much praised career of Eric H. Holder Jr., President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be attorney general, there is one notable blemish: Mr. Holder’s complicated role in the 2001 pardon of Marc Rich, a billionaire financier who had fled the country rather than face federal tax evasion charges. Mr. Holder’s supporters portray him as having been a relatively uninvolved bystander caught in a Clinton-era controversy, the remarkable granting of a last-minute pardon by President Bill Clinton to a fugitive from justice. But interviews and an examination of Congressional records show that Mr. Holder, who at the time...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Monday dismissed any concern that Attorney General nominee Eric Holder’s confirmation process would be haunted by the pardon of Marc Rich. Speaking at a press conference to praise President-elect Barack Obama’s nominations, Leahy singled out Holder as “a longtime friend” and an “especially fitting” choice to lead the Justice Department. He predicted Holder’s involvement in the 2001 pardon of Rich — a fugitive commodities trader granted clemency on President Bill Clinton’s last day in office — would play only a minor role in the upcoming hearings. Leahy acknowledged that, while the topic...

The Tiahrt amendment, which prevents every local police and sheriff’s office from fishing through federal firearm records will be repealed. Currently, only BATFE is authorized to access the sensitive data, provides it to local LEOs as needed and only while conducting bona fide criminal investigations. NY mayor Bloomberg is instigating this, to get his hands on the data and advance his harassing lawsuits against the gun industry. The Uninvited Ombudsman predicts the next step will be complaints that most private gun ownership data is not in federal hands, and can’t be searched “to keep Americans safe.” This line is too...

I need to purchase handguns for my family. I prefer private sales. I need a plinger like a 22 and something that is protection. The protection would come in two sizes, one that a full grown adult could use, and one that I could use. I have problems with my hands and need something that won't kick so I dont drop the gun. Something that will fit in the Cabelas purse holster. Are ther also between seat car holsters?

"As President, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun-owners, hunters, and sportsmen. I know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne." That was Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on June 26, 2008, responding to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which struck down Washington, DC's draconian handgun ban and held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms—not a collective one. "I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals," Obama went on, "but I also identify with the need for...

My wife and I are looking to purchase a handgun for both hobby shooting and home defense. We are only looking to purchase one. The local gun store has the following handguns that interested me and I wanted to see if anyone had any personal experiences with them. The review sites seemed bias towards one company versus others. 1.) Beretta 96 series 2.) Bersa Thunder and Thunder 380 3.) Ruger 9mm model SR 4.) Sig P226 5.) Glock M30 6.) Taurus PT-92 Thanks in advance!

Wonder how many others here were doing the same? Left for the local Cabela's with my dad this morning at 5 AM. Got there at 5:45 and about 300-400 people were already in line for a store which opened at 6! Simply unbelievable. Long lines at the gun counter made for a wait which was hours long, especially since the PA dept which approves gun purchases opened at 8 AM making for an incredible backlong. The state of PA really needs to add 2 hours next year for this one day. But in the end, I got my Kimber Ultra...

November 25, 2008, 9:45 a.m. Opposed to Holder without ApologyThe shameful pardons are disqualifying. By Andrew C. McCarthy I’ll concede this much to Lanny Davis: Last Friday night, during our Hannity & Colmes debate over President-Elect Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder to be the next Attorney General, Davis said (or I should say, screeched) that I’d soon be apologizing, and he’s right. I am sorry that our discussion degenerated into a screaming match. That’s wince-making television that doesn’t edify anyone. So I do apologize to anyone who had to endure that segment. But Davis’s hysterical suggestion that I...

Did fugitive Marc Rich bribe Clinton with 250 million? Reports state there is a confidential witness who is prepared to testify and should testify in the confirmation hearings of Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder. Here is alleged audio from the confidential witness.

President-Elect Obama’s choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder, had a 2002 interview with CNN’s Paula Zahn, (partial transcripts and stories have appeared on several sites recently including: National Review, Salon, Israpundit, and Democrats.com) where he cited a stance on terrorist detainees and their rights which were very different from not only Vice President-elect Joe Biden but also Obama himself (my emphasis throughout:)

Barack Obama’s nomination of Eric Holder for attorney general will not sit well with advocates of Second Amendment rights — Holder has consistently championed stronger gun-control measures. As deputy attorney general in the Bill Clinton administration from 1997 to 2001, Holder “was a strong supporter of restrictive gun control,” according to The Volokh Conspiracy, a Web site that focuses on the legal system and the courts. He advocated federal licensing of handgun owners, a three-day waiting period on handgun sales, rationing handgun sales to no more than one per month, banning possession of handguns and so-called "assault weapons" by anyone...

Well, this could certainly start the confirmation hearings off with a bang! Doug C. alerts us to an interesting development in the case of Eric Holder, prospective Attorney General. I received today via email, the scan of a sworn declaration from a confidential witness. The hard copy will be in my possession in a few days. Neither the name nor sex of the witness will be revealed at this time. The witness is prepared to testify and should testify in the confirmation hearings of Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder. A statement by the witness will be on YouTube in...

The Democrats have bleated for years about the detention of illegal combatants at Guantanamo, while the Left and the "international community" have demanded that captured terrorists be treated as prisoners of war. We read in the November 22-23 Wall Street Journal (page A13) that Barack Obama's selected Attorney General, Eric Holder, agrees with us that terrorists are not uniformed combatants who are entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention. Per an interview on CNN in January 2002, One of the things we clearly want to do with these prisoners is to have an ability to interrogate them and find...

I received today via email, the scan of a sworn declaration from a confidential witness. The hard copy will be in my possession in a few days. Neither the name nor sex of the witness will be revealed at this time. The witness is prepared to testify and should testify in the confirmation hearings of Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder. A statement by the witness will be on YouTube in a few days with a voice that is disguised. The witness is willing to submit to a polygraph. Senator Arlen Specter has indicated that confirmation hearings will involve a serious...

I spent several years of the Clinton administration writing about one scandal or controversy after another. There was, of course, the Whitewater affair and the fight over the independent counsel, Kenneth Starr. There was the Lewinsky matter. Travelgate. The bitter controversy over Elian Gonzalez. The furor over Bill Clinton's last-minute pardons. And more. It seems like so long ago. So why am I suddenly hitting the search feature on my laptop ten times a day, looking for old articles? Why am I looking for names like Eric Holder, Gregory Craig, Rahm Emanuel, and John Podesta? Because change has come to...

WHEN President Bill Clinton pardoned a billionaire fugitive from justice on his last day in office, even usually loyal Democrats were dismayed. Representative Henry Waxman of California called it “bad precedent” and “an end run around the judicial process.” He said it appeared to set a double standard for the wealthy and powerful. The billionaire was Marc Rich, a commodities trader, and his pardon is a subject of discussion again because Eric Holder, Mr. Clinton’s deputy attorney general at the time[.]

Barack Obama's Attorney General candidate Eric Holder was grilled in Congress after the Clinton Administration pardoned FALN terrorists before leaving office. This testimony on the Clinton pardons of the 16 FALN terrorists took place in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chairman Orrin Hatch grilled Holder because the FALN terrorists never even requested clemency... And, the Clinton Administration never even contacted the victim's families. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and the pardon attorney continued to invoke the president's executive privilege during the testimony:

"It's like Keystone Cops."

JOE CONNOR ON HANNITY & SCUMBAG discussing FALN and Eric Holder Joe sent me this by email to make sure I didn't miss it. We have spoken many times, and we finally met for lunch late last year when I was in New York screening HILLARY! UNCENSORED. Alan Colmes deserved to be smacked in the face for this performance.

In the VIDEO below, Eric Holder testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the pardons extended by President Clinton to the 16 FALN terrorists. Then Judiciary Committee Chairman Orin Hatch grills Holder concerning the lack of screening in connection with the pardons. In 1999, over the objections of the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons, and prosecuting attorneys, Holder supported Clinton's commutation of the sentences of 16 FALN terrorists who even Holder conceded had not expressed any remorse. The commutations were nakedly political, obviously designed by Clinton to assist his wife's impending Senate campaign by appealing to New York's substantial Puerto...

As President-elect Barack Obama quickly selects officials for his administration, attention is starting to turn to the potential obstacles they face in Senate confirmation hearings. The Associated Press, citing a Democratic source, reports that John Podesta, a leader of Obama's transition team, had told Senate aides on Friday that Obama hoped for a speedy confirmation so the new administration could get to work quickly thereafter. But past controversies involving some of his picks could make for bloody hearings. The latest list of Obama's expected Cabinet selections includes Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, Timothy Geithner as his Treasury secretary, Eric...

WHEN President Bill Clinton pardoned a billionaire fugitive from justice on his last day in office, even usually loyal Democrats were dismayed. Representative Henry Waxman of California called it “bad precedent” and “an end run around the judicial process.” He said it appeared to set a double standard for the wealthy and powerful. The billionaire was Marc Rich, a commodities trader, and his pardon is a subject of discussion again because Eric Holder, Mr. Clinton’s deputy attorney general at the time and a key figure in the clemency process, is reported to be Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general. In...

VIDEO***UPDATE***NY lawmaker seeks to prevent Bush pardons of “cronies”(h/t Naked Emperor News)Naked Emperor News has unearthed a 2007 KJFK radio interview Barack Obama gave to host Christiane Brown. He promised that one of his first acts as president would be to call on his new Attorney General to investigate the Bush administration(emphasis is mine:) BROWN: And when you are... if you were to be elected president of the United States, Senator Obama, do you feel that we need to look back if the investigations have been done on this administration find out what happened, because there’s a fear there’s a...

Bought this gun today and am asking the experts what over the counter ammo feeds through this weapon? As stated, the gun is a flat-top with a Simmons scope along with a bi-pod as the only add-on's. The serial number is BK010XXX and I believe this a post-ban weapon, correct? I have shot competively in the past with .45 auto's and this is my first semi-auto rifle. I believe this dude will drive tack's as I have read. I just would like some overall advise.

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=e4qGQuQuQu In a 07 radio interview Obama promises that one of his first acts as president is going to be to call in his new Attorney General to review every single executive order and if they can find that any laws were broken, accountability would be his Attorney General’s job. He also admits the democrats are currently documenting and investigating the Bush Administration Also in the Video Eric Holder is insulting Bush. Saying there was NO real leader of the free world for the last 6 years.

Earlier this year, Eric Holder--along with Janet Reno and several other former officials from the Clinton Department of Justice--co-signed an amicus brief in District of Columbia v. Heller. The brief was filed in support of DC's ban on all handguns, and ban on the use of any firearm for self-defense in the home. The brief argued that the Second Amendment is a "collective" right, not an individual one, and asserted that belief in the collective right had been the consistent policy of the U.S. Department of Justice since the FDR administration. A brief filed by some other former DOJ officials...

In April 1999, the Columbine High School massacre happened. The shooters, Dylan Harris and Eric Klebold, reportedly learned how to construct sophisticated bombs through their internet activity. This discovery caused then deputy attorney general Eric Holder to say the following(audio uploaded at Eyeblast.tv:) The court has really struck down every government effort to try to regulate it. We tried with regard to pornography. It is gonna be a difficult thing, but it seems to me that if we can come up with reasonable restrictions, reasonable regulations in how people interact on the Internet, that is something that the Supreme Court...

Danny Glover at Eyeblast reveals a nine-year-old NPR interview with Eric Holder regarding how the government needs to regulate Internet communications. The rumored front-runner for Attorney General told NPR that the Columbine killers may have found some of their venom through Internet access, as well as a bomb recipe or two. If the government can regulate pornography, Holder insisted while serving as Deputy AG during the Clinton administration, surely the government can restrict speech in general:

Here's the next Attorney General talking about curbing free speech on the internet:

A federal appeals court ... for the first time overturned a gun-control law by declaring that the Second Amendment grants a person the right to possess firearms. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the capital's 30-year-old ban on keeping handguns in homes is unconstitutional. The 2-1 ruling outraged Mayor Adrian Fenty and ... former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said weakening the gun law "opens the door to more people having more access to guns and putting guns on the streets."

Like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton ran on the mantra of "change," but many of his plans for it ran aground not long into his presidency. Now Obama seeks to enact the radical changes Clinton couldn't. His recruitment of Clinton-era leftists isn't "governing from the middle," but an attempt to implement the thwarted radicalism of Clinton's first two years in office. It suits the ideological purposes of the media to push "the middle" gradually leftward and cast the return of experienced Clinton-era hands as a measure of Obama's caution and moderation. But this is circumspection at the service of radicalism. Obama...

A week or so ago I sold a bunch of rifles and pistols in my local Missouri paper. Included in the list of rifles was an SKS which was in nice condition ….of which I still have a pretty big pile of ammo in the closet. (7.62x39) My intention was to sell all these guns and buy a Ruger Mini 30. Now, I have read a lot of the internet chatter bad talking the Mini 14’s and Mini 30’s – and I also know that Ruger in recent years has tightened the specs of these rifles – and I am...

New Year's Eve, 1982...New York Police Department's elite bomb squad rushed to headquarters at One Police Plaza, where minutes earlier an explosion had destroyed the entrance to the building. A total of four bombs exploded in a single hour on that night, including at FBI headquarters in Manhattan and the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. The perpetrators were members of ... FALN ... Its members waged war on America with bombings, arson, kidnappings, prison escapes, threats and intimidation. The most gruesome attack was the 1975 Fraunces Tavern bombing in Lower Manhattan. Timed to go off during the lunch-hour rush... FALN bragged...

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to name two attorneys to his administration who helped return Elián González to Cuba, angering some Miami Republicans. Two veterans of the Elián González saga are expected to be named to top posts in Democrat Barack Obama's administration, infuriating some Cuban-American Republicans who haven't forgotten the 6-year-old boy seized in Miami and sent back to the communist regime. The Associated Press is reporting that Obama's top choice for U.S. attorney general is Eric Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the 2000 raid in Miami. Greg Craig, who represented González's father in the custody...