Eric Holder's State of Historic Denial
Holder claims that his people have been dedicated to doing things only on the basis of the facts and the law. That is certainly not what a number of federal judges have thought about the abusive cases that Justice has brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act with the intention of intimidating the pro-life movement. Many of these prosecutions have been thrown out for lack of evidence and for violating the First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters. A Florida case that was dismissed led the judge to wonder whether the prosecution was the product of a concerted effort between the government and the [abortion clinic]...to quell [the defendants] activities rather than to enforce the statute. In other words, the judge believed the defendant had been targeted for her political beliefs.
Similar cases have been filed in the area of environmental law.At the behest of the administrations environmental allies, there was the lawsuit filed against storied guitar maker Gibson Guitar for supposedly importing prohibited wood that, the DOJ finally had to admit, was not prohibited. Holders Justice Department has colluded with those same environmental groups to impose dozens of new regulatory rules through a sue and settle scheme by which Justice does not defend in lawsuits brought by its political friends. That allows the administration to implement the rules it wants without going through the required regulatory process, skipping public notice and review.
What is sad is that Holder is proud of the historic things he has done at Justice. Does that include the politically motivated pardons for international fugitive Marc Rich or the unrepentant Puerto Rican FALN terrorists that he arranged in his prior tenure at Justice during the Clinton administration?
Through his mishandling of Operation Fast and Furious (which provoked a contempt citation from Congress), his imposition of the Clinton-era model of handling terrorism as ordinary criminal violations, his refusal to provide Congress with the information it is entitled to in its oversight function, his arbitrary refusals to enforce or defend federal laws that he and President Obama dont like, Holder politicized the department to an extent never before seen, despite his furious denials. That is not a historic record to be proud of.
Eric Holder and Barack Obama came into their respective offices promising transparency, openness, and adherence to the rule of law.Instead, we have seen the exact opposite from both of them, with Eric Holder acting as President Obamas enabler to violate the law and the Constitution.We need a new attorney general, one who will not repeat that behavior but instead will act to undo the enormous damage that Holder has inflicted on the professionalism of the Justice Department an attorney general willing to rein in the president when he tries to abuse his executive authority.
Editor'sNote:This article was co-authored by John Fund.
- John Fund is national-affairs correspondent for National Review Online.
- Hans A. von Spakovsky a Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
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Eric Holder's State of Historic Denial