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Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has surprising arguments against fingerprinting Uber drivers.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has surprising arguments against fingerprinting Uber drivers.

FILE-- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.Holder has come out against proposals in Chicago and New Jersey to require fingerprint background checks of drivers for Uber and Lyft.

FILE-- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.Holder has come out against proposals in Chicago and New Jersey to require fingerprint background checks of drivers for Uber and Lyft.

Eric Holder: Fingerprinting rules are racist

Former Attorney General Eric Holder has come out against proposals in Chicago and New Jersey to require fingerprint background checks of drivers for ride-hailing platforms such as Uber and Lyft. Why would Obamas onetime top lawman come out against regulation that is supposed to protect the riding public? Credit the intersection of two forces. First, Holders tony corporate law firm, Covington & Burling, represents Uber. Also, as Holder sees it, requiring drivers to submit fingerprints may have a discriminatory impact on communities of color.

I was surprised to read about Holders opposition, as I have trouble seeing Holder as a model for social justice. As deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, Holder gave a neutral-leaning to positive recommendation for the pardon of billionaire Marc Rich, who fled to Switzerland to evade fraud and tax evasion charges. As President Obamas first attorney general, he was so stingy with the pardon power that political scientist P.S. Ruckman wrote that inmates seeking clemency had a better chance of being struck by lightning.

Besides, law enforcement relies on fingerprinting because it works. According to the National Rifle Association, gun buyers must undergo fingerprint checks in some states. California teachers submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. California drivers are fingerprinted. I get into my gym thanks to a fingerprint scanner and swipe my index finger to open my phone. Dont tell me, I said to myself, Holder has joined gadflies who question the validity of fingerprints the way others oppose vaccinations.

Black mens burden

Holder is no such animal. In a letter to Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, Holder explained that while fingerprint checks are a valuable law enforcement tool, they often do not indicate whether a person who was arrested was even charged or ultimately convicted. Thus, mandatory checks can prevent people from getting a job even if they were never found guilty of a crime. Because black men are arrested more than white men, the policy affects men of color disproportionately.

Pro-fingerprint politicians frame their stance as a matter of fairness. New Jersey limousine drivers must undergo fingerprint background checks. Ergo, the Limousine Association of New Jersey favors the same for ride-hailing service drivers to adequately protect the riding public.

Uber contends it can check drivers backgrounds more thoroughly with databases that probe applicants driving records, criminal history and more. According to a fact sheet, Uber does not contract with drivers who have three or more moving violations in the past three years, have been cited for driving with a suspended or revoked license or without insurance in the past seven years, or were convicted of drunken driving or reckless driving in the past seven years.

Also, the market provides protections that regulation cannot deliver. Because technology identifies passengers and drivers, there is no anonymity. Riders rate drivers; drivers rate riders an incentive for good behavior. Theres no place to hide, said Matthew Feeney of the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. No transportation model is risk-free, Feeney noted, but: You would have to want to be caught to commit a crime in an Uber car. It is a detectives dream.

On television, fingerprinting is the gold standard for identifying suspects, but, Feeney noted, its an incomplete tool for screening for criminal convictions. Feeney said he believes politicians who push for more regulations for ride-hailing operations care about public safety, but there is also the chance that theyre motivated in part by protectionist or anticompetitive feelings about taxis.

Ubers blog notes that Alderman Beale says he wants to level the playing field, but the answer is to introduce new commonsense rules for taxis, NOT to impose the same bureaucratic regulations on ride-sharing apps like Uber.

Focusing on Houston

Uber and Lyft left Austin, Texas, last month after voters rejected a measure (greased liberally with ride-hailing company capital) to end taxi-style regulations that included fingerprinting. The next battleground is Houston. Lyft left Houston in 2014 when it passed similar regulations. Uber Houston now offers provisional permits for drivers for 30 days, after which they must get fingerprinted. An Uber executive who did not want to be named told me fingerprinting is expensive and time-consuming.

San Francisco has seen sharing-economy startups operate outside the law, then try to work with local lawmakers. Compromise gets startups only so far. See how Airbnb worked to license and tax short-term rentals to get in the good graces of City Hall. Now the Board of Supervisors is threatening large fines and even criminal charges. Trusting City Hall is like thinking you can deal with the Mob.

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com Twitter: DebraJSaunders

Excerpt from:
Eric Holder: Fingerprinting rules are racist - SFGate

Un article de Wikipdia, l'encyclopdie libre.

Eric Himpton Holder, Jr., n le 21 janvier 1951 New York, est un homme politique et avocat amricain, procureur gnral des tats-Unis (Attorney General) entre 2009 et 2015 au sein de l'administration de Barack Obama. Il est le premier Afro-amricain occuper ce poste.

Eric Holder est n dans le Bronx de parents originaires de la Barbade. Son pre Eric Himpton Holder, Sr. (1905-1970) naquit Saint-Joseph, l'est de l'le de la Barbade et arriva l'ge de 11 ans sur le sol amricain. Il devint plus tard prteur immobilier. Sa mre Miriam naquit dans le New Jersey. Ses grands-parents maternels furent des immigrants originaires de la paroisse barbadienne de Saint-Philip. Eric H. Holder, Jr. grandit dans le quartier d'East Elmhurst dans le quartier nord-ouest du Queens o il frquenta l'cole publique jusqu' l'ge de dix ans.

Remarqu par ses rsultats scolaires, il intgre la Stuyvesant High School, lyce priv prestigieux de Manhattan. Il entre ensuite l'universit Columbia o il obtient en 1973 un Bachelor of Arts en histoire amricaine. Il suit ensuite les cours de la Columbia Law School dont il sort diplm en 1976. Il travaille alors pour le dpartement de la Justice des tats-Unis comme trial attorney dans la section Intgrit publique de 1976 1988. Durant cette priode, il participera aux poursuites contre le membre du congrs dmocrate John Jenrette accus de trafic d'influence. En 1988, le prsident Ronald Reagan le nomme juge la Cour suprieure du district de Columbia, la capitale fdrale. En 1993 il est promu par le prsident Bill Clinton au poste de procureur fdral du district de Columbia. C'est le premier Afro-Amricain ce poste, comme il le sera lors de ses promotions suivantes. Au dbut de ses nouvelles fonctions, il supervise les conclusions sur le cas de corruption contre Dan Rostenkowski, une partie du scandale de la Poste du Congrs. En 1997, il est promu procureur gnral adjoint, poste o il seconde Janet Reno. De 2001 2008, sous la prsidence de George W. Bush, Holder quitte l'administration et travaille dans le priv, comme avocat au cabinet Covington & Burling, Washington, reprsentant des clients comme Merck ou la National Football League.

En avril 2004, invit sur CNN, il affirme son opposition au Patriot Act de l'administration Bush. En juin 2008 lors d'un discours l'American Constitution Society for Law and Policy il critique la politique amricaine de la torture et la surveillance sans mandat permise la NSA. Nanmoins, le Patriot Act est prolong par le Congrs amricain, au moins jusqu'en juin 2015.

Lorsque Barack Obama est lu fin 2008, il choisit Eric Holder comme ministre de la justice (Procureur gnral des tats-Unis), pour la passation de pouvoirs de dbut 2009.

Le 9 janvier 2009, le Snat confirme Holder comme procureur gnral des tats-Unis (ministre de la Justice des tats-Unis), sa nomination fut plusieurs fois retarde mais finalement confirme avec 75 voix pour et 21 contre aprs trois heures de dbat au Snat[1]. Il est reconduit lors du second mandat de Barack Obama.

Eric Holder et Barack Obama ont de trs importants dossiers traiter: l'abandon des discriminations contre le mariage homosexuel, les fraudes amricaines ayant entrain la crise conomique mondiale des annes 2008 et suivantes, et l'ampleur des coutes lgales mais secrtes de la National Security Agency.

Paralllement, de nombreux scandales judiciaires sont rvls tout au cours des deux prsidences Obama, mais aucun n'a assez d'envergure pour engendrer une dmission de l'administration, du prsident ou de ses ministres.

Eric Holder n'est pas encore ministre de la Justice lors du dclenchement de la crise financire de 2008, mais il est rapidement charg des suites judiciaires. En 2013, Eric Holder explique pourquoi il a refus de poursuivre les institutions financires aprs la crise de 2008.

Interrog par le snateur Chuck Grassley (rpublicain de lIowa) le 6 mars 2013 dans une audition du Comit judiciaire du Snat amricain sur les raisons pour lesquelles aucun dirigeant dtablissement bancaire navait t poursuivi suite aux vnements qui avaient conduit leffondrement du systme financier international en septembre 2008, Eric Holder rpond: Je crains que la taille de certains de ces tablissements ne soit devenue si grande quil est devenu difficile de les poursuivre en justice, parce que des indications nous parviennent qui si nous les poursuivions si nous procdions des inculpations cela aurait un impact ngatif sur lconomie nationale, voire sur lconomie mondiale, et il me semble que ceci est la consquence du fait que certains de ces tablissements sont devenus trop importants () Ceci a une influence inhibitoire sur, ou impacte, notre capacit prendre les mesures qui seraient selon moi les plus adquates

Ces propos sont interprts par les snateurs et par la presse comme laveu dune position de faiblesse du ministre de la Justice dans son rapport de force avec le secteur bancaire[2].

En 2013, Eric Holder est mis en cause pour avoir autoris la livraison d'armes amricaines aux cartels mexicains dans le cadre de l'opration Fast and Furious visant suivre le traffic des armes vers les cartels de la drogue. Cependant seuls 23 parlementaires ptitionnent pour sa rvocation, ce qui est trs loin du quota ncessaire.

En 2014, Eric Holder est accus par une enqute du Washington Post (Prix Pulitzer 2014, pour la publication des rvlations d'Edward Snowden), cite par le polmiste James Bovard, d'avoir fait spcialit d'enterrer les affaires impliquant des policiers. Alors qu'entre la nomination d'Eric Holder en 1988 et 2014, les policiers sous sa responsabilit ont tu plus de suspects que tout autre service de police, dans l'histoire des tats-Unis, aucun policier n'a t personnellement mis en examen pour homicide dans le district de Columbia, alors que les services de police taient condamns.

Le point culminant de cette accusation d'entrave la saisine de la justice, est que face cette situation statistiquement alarmante Janet Reno aurait en 1997 charg Eric Holder d'enquter sur lui-mme. Depuis 18 ans cette enqute serait ouverte et vierge.

Le 25 septembre 2014, Eric Holder annonce sa dmission sans en prciser les motifs, ce qui est habituel aux tats-Unis. Il restera en fonctions plusieurs mois jusqu' l'entre en fonction de son successeur. Il s'agirait d'un accord politique prvu de longue date avec le prsident Barack Obama, afin de nommer une autre personnalit pour sa dernire anne de prsidence. Barack dclare au sujet d'Eric Holder: Nous ne pourrions pas tre plus reconnaissants pour tout ce que vous avez fait, pas juste pour moi et le gouvernement, mais pour tout le pays[3],[4],[5].

Le 8 novembre 2014, Loretta Lynch, procureure, est choisie par le prsident Obama pour succder Holder.

Read the rest here:
Eric Holder Wikipdia

Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. (* 21. Januar 1951 in New York City) ist ein US-amerikanischer Jurist und Politiker der Demokratischen Partei. Am 18. November 2008 wurde er von US-Prsident Barack Obama als Attorney General of the United States (Generalbundesanwalt der Vereinigten Staaten) und damit faktisch als Justizminister nominiert; die Besttigung durch den Senat der Vereinigten Staaten erfolgte am 3.Februar 2009.[1] Eric Holder ist der erste Afroamerikaner, der diese Spitzenposition erlangt hat. Am 8. November 2014 wurde Loretta Lynch von Prsident Obama als Nachfolgerin fr den scheidenden Eric Holder nominiert. Nach einer langen Verzgerungspause durch die Republikanische Partei wurde Lynch am 23. April 2015 vom Senat als Holders Nachfolgerin besttigt.[2]

Eric Holder wurde 1951 in New York City, Stadtteil Bronx, geboren. Die familiren Wurzeln seiner Eltern weisen in die Karibik. Holders Vater, Eric Himpton Holder, Sr. (19051970) wurde im Parish St.Joseph im Westen der Insel Barbados geboren und wanderte 1916 in die Vereinigten Staaten aus. Holders Mutter Miriam R. Yearwood wurde in New Jersey geboren; auch ihre Eltern waren aus Barbados, Parish Saint Philip, in die USA ausgewandert.

Holder wuchs in Queens auf und ging zur Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan und zur Columbia University, wo er den B.A. 1973 und den J.D. 1976 erhielt.[3] Nach der Columbia Law School arbeitete Holder von 1976 bis 1988 beim US-Justizministerium. Er wurde von Prsident Ronald Reagan als beigeordneter Richter (Associate Judge) an den Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Washington, berufen.[4]

1993 wurde Holder durch Prsident Bill Clinton zum United States Attorney (Bundesstaatsanwalt) fr Washington, D.C. ernannt. Clinton nominierte ihn 1997 als stellvertretenden Generalbundesanwalt der Vereinigten Staaten;[5] im September 1997 leistete Holder seinen Amtseid.[6]

2001 wechselte Holder in die Privatwirtschaft, wo er bis 2009 in Washington D.C. fr die renommierte Anwaltskanzlei Covington & Burling ttig war. Covington & Burling hat u.a. aus der Finanzwelt einflussreiche Kunden wie Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo und Deutsche Bank.[7]

Im Vorfeld der Prsidentschaftswahl 2008 gehrte Holder zum Kampagnenteam von Barack Obama und arbeitete dort unter anderem mit Caroline Kennedy und James A. Johnson zusammen.

Bei der Ansprache vor beiden Husern des Kongresses im Jahr 2009 war Holder Designated Survivor. Er wre im Falle eines Anschlages auf das Kapitol der hchstrangige berlebende gewesen und htte die Nachfolge von Barack Obama als Prsident angetreten.

Holder kndigte am 25. September 2014 seinen Rcktritt an. Er blieb jedoch bis April 2015 im Amt, nachdem Loretta Lynch nach einem langen politischen Tauziehen zwischen Prsident Obama und der republikanischen Senatsmehrheit vom Senat besttigt wurde.[8]

Holder lebt mit seiner Frau, der rztin Sharon Malone, und seinen drei Kindern in Washington.[9]

In einem CNN-Interview im Januar 2002 verteidigte Holder die Klassifizierung von Terroristen als Ungesetzliche Kombattanten statt Kriegsgefangene.[10]

Befragt zum Fall Goldman Sachs, gab Holder an, dass seine Aufgabe nicht darin bestehe, Flle zu gewinnen, sondern der Gerechtigkeit zum Siege zu verhelfen. Die Mittel, um komplexe Flle bearbeiten zu knnen, wurden aufgestockt, um die "technologische Lcke" zur Verteidigung schlieen zu helfen.[11]

Kurz nach seinem Amtsantritt als Justizminister hielt Holder in der American Academy in Berlin eine Rede zur Schlieung des Gefangenenlagers in der Guantnamo-Bucht.[12]

Im Oktober 2011 gab Holder Details eines von Iran geplanten Attentates bekannt, das in Zusammenarbeit mit mexikanischen Behrden verhindert wurde.[13]

Ende des Jahres 2011 musste sich Holder auf Grund der Praktiken des Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives bei der Bekmpfung des Drogenkriegs in Mexiko vor dem Justizausschuss des Senats verantworten. Die Bundespolizeibehrde hatte in groem Umfang illegal Waffen an Drogenkartelle geliefert und sich erhofft, auf diese Weise den Weg der Waffen, u.a. Maschinengewehre, verfolgen zu knnen. Allerdings verlor man die Spur bald. Im Dezember 2010 wurde ein US-Grenzschtzer mit den von der ATF geschmuggelten Waffen gettet.[14]

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Eric Holder Wikipedia

Attorney General Eric Holder finally got fed up Tuesday with claims that the Justice Department went easy in a voting rights case against members of the New Black Panther Party because they are African American.

Holder's frustration over the criticism became evident during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing as Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) accused the Justice Department of failing to cooperate with a Civil Rights Commission investigation into the handling of the 2008 incident in which Black Panthers in intimidating outfits and wielding a club stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia.

The Attorney General seemed to take personaloffense at a comment Culberson read in which former Democratic activist Bartle Bull called the incident the most serious act of voter intimidation he had witnessed in his career.

"Think about that," Holder said. "When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened in Philadelphiawhich was inappropriate, certainly thatto describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people," said Holder, who is black.

Holder noted that his latesister-in-law, Vivian Malone Jones, helped integrate the University of Alabama.

"To compare that kind of courage, that kind of action, and to say that the Black Panther incident wrong thought it might be somehow is greater in magnitude or is of greater concern to us, historically, I think just flies in the face of history and the facts.," Holder said with evident exasperation.

In a series of questions and comments earlier in the hearing, Culbersoninsisted that race had infected the decision-making process."Theres clearly evidence, overwhelming evidence, that your Department of Justice refuses to protect the rights of anybody other than African Americans to vote," the Texas Republican said. "There's a pattern of a double standard here."

I would disagree very vehemently with the notion that theres overwhelming evidence that that is in fact true, Holder replied. This Department of Justice does not enforce the law in a race-conscious way.

Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said the Black Panthers "should not have been there." But he said the GOP was making too much out of a fleeting incident involving a couple of people.

"Themost unethical thing a personcan do is make allegations basedon absolutely nothing," Fattah said. "The only issue of race is singling out this particular decision...That this rises to national significance is bogus on its face."

UPDATE: This post has been updated with minor changes to the syntax of some quotes.

Josh Gerstein is a senior reporter for POLITICO.

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Eric Holder: Black Panther case focus demeans 'my people ...

From left: House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) prepare for a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 25, 2015. The Democratic leaders called on congressional Republicans to halt their "reckless inaction on the Export-Import Bank and the Highway and Transit Trust Fund."

U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), right, holds hands with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), second from right, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), as they stand with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), second from left, and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), left, in front of the U.S. Capitol on June 18, 2015, during a moment of silence for the nine killed in a church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

From left: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pray with other members of the U.S. Congress during a prayer circle on June 18, 2015, in front of the Capitol to honor those gunned down inside the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. leave meeting with House Democrats on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, June 12, 2015. The president made an 11th-hour appeal to dubious Democrats on Friday in a tense run-up to a House showdown on legislation to strengthen his hand in global trade talks. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., left, walks with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., toward the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, June 12, 2015. Earlier, President Barack Obama made an 11th-hour appeal to dubious Democrats on Friday in a tense run-up to a House showdown on legislation to strengthen his hand in global trade talks. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Senators arrive, from left, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Sen Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., for a group photo for National Seersucker Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky, center, rear, waves during group photo of Senators for National Seersucker Day, Thursday, June 11, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Back row, from left are, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., McConnell, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.. Front row, from left are, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., , Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk (second from left) speaks during a meeting on Capitol Hill on June 10, 2015. Yatsenyuk met with Republican lawmakers while visiting Washington.

U.S. Capitol Police gather after a suspicious package was found forcing a partial evacuation of the Dirksen Senate Office Building and of a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on June 9, 2015.

Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) arrives at a news conference June 3, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Congressional Democrats held a news conference to oppose fast-tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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Eric Holder, Former U.S. Attorney General, To Return To ...