President Obama heaped praise on Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday as he announced the resignation of America’s top law enforcement official, one of his longest serving cabinet members, and a personal friend.
“We could not be more grateful for everything you’ve done for our country,” Obama said at a White House event with Holder at his side, who choked back tears during his own remarks.
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Obama praised Holder’s work on everything from gay rights to criminal justice reform, framing Holder’s work as the relentless pursuit of justice and fairness.
“I chose him to serve as attorney general because he believes, as I do, that justice is not just an abstract theory. It’s a living and breathing principle. It’s about how our laws interact with our daily lives. It’s about whether we can make an honest living and whether we can provide for our families, whether we feel safe in our own communities and welcomed in our own country. Whether the words that the Founders set on paper 238 years ago apply to every single one of us — and not just some. That’s why I made him America’s lawyer, the people’s lawyer,” Obama said.
Holder, who is the first African-American to hold the position of U.S. attorney general, plans to stay in his post until his successor is confirmed by the Senate. Obama did not name a nominee Thursday evening to replace Holder, though there already appears to be a short list of potential candidates.
Holder has led the Justice Department since the start of the Obama administration in 2009. He prioritized civil rights, an issue important to him throughout his long career in government. All told, Holder served at the Justice Department under six presidents of both parties.
“Eric’s proudest achievement, though, might be reinvigorating and restoring the core mission to what he calls the conscience of the building, and that’s the Civil Rights Division,” Obama said, noting that Holder’s father was denied service at a lunch counter because of the color of skin, despite serving his country in World War II.
For his Part, Holder said he has “loved the department of justice” since he was a child, when he watched former Attorney General Robert Kennedy use its power to enforce civil rights law. “I will never — I will never — leave the work,” he said, even though he said he was leaving public office for good.
During his tenure, Holder was always a target of Republicans. He was the first attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress. Perhaps not surprisingly, while Democrats praised Holder on his retirements, GOP responses ranked from luke warm to hostile.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has already called for delaying the confirmation process until the new year, after new senators will be seated. “Rather than rush a nominee through the Senate in a lame duck session, I hope the president will now take his time,” the senator, who could become chairman of the committee in January, said in a statement.
Early on, Holder sought to have Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and other architects of the Sept. 11 terror attacks tried through the civilian justice system, including bringing them to New York for the trial. The administration ultimately backed down amid opposition from Republicans and many family members of the victims.
And last year, the House voted to hold Holder in contempt when he refused to turn over documents relating to an investigation into DoJ program to counter gun trafficking, known as Fast and Furious. Democrats denounced the probe as a witch-hunt.
He often sparred with outgoing House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, calling the GOP congressman’s conduct “unacceptable” and “shameful” at a May hearing.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Republicans were quick lambast Holder upon news of his retirement. “Eric Holder is the most divisive U.S. Attorney General in modern history,” Issa said in a statement that reflected the tone of many GOP responses. “Time and again, Eric Holder administered justice as the political activist he describes himself as instead of an unbiased law enforcement official.”
But Democrats and civil rights leaders were laudatory, congratulating Holder on his work reviving the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and other work advancing causes he had championed his entire career.
“There has been no greater ally in the fight for justice, civil rights, equal rights, and voting rights than Attorney General Holder,” said Myrlie Evers, the wife of the late civil rights icon Medgar Evers and the chairman of their eponymous institute.
Patrick Leahy, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and who will be responsible for ushering a successor through confirmation, praised Holder as an “an extraordinary leader of the Department of Justice.”
Last month, Holder made a high-profile trip to Ferguson, Missouri to help calm tensions after the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, and to assure residents that the federal government will aggressively investigate the killing.








