50 Years Later: The Legacy of Gideon v. Wainwright, PT1
Welcome by Deborah Leff, Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice and Tony West, Acting Associate Attorney General. Remarks by Attorney General Eric Holder.
By: TheJusticeDepartment
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50 Years Later: The Legacy of Gideon v. Wainwright, PT1 - Video
By Evan Perez and Eric Bradner, CNN
updated 10:31 AM EDT, Tue October 21, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday that he found it "frustrating" that the Justice Department hasn't been able to carry out criminal prosecutions of executives whose risky banking practices blamed for the global financial crisis.
As Holder wraps up nearly six years at the helm of the Justice Department, the attorney general has drawn criticism for his department's record on white collar crime.
Holder frustrated no person went on trial for financial crisis
Some critics say the department failed by not bringing charges as a deterrent against shoddy practices on Wall Street. Some fault him for instead extracting billion dollar settlements from the world's biggest banks.
Holder has defended the department's record saying the settlements are one way to prod shareholder to hold management more accountable.
Still, in an exclusive interview with CNN on Monday, Holder acknowledged that the lack of criminal prosecutions of executives "is something that is frustrating."
"The American people should understand we looked at those matters, tried to come up with ways in which we could hold people and institutions accountable," Holder told CNN. "We have prosecuted certain institutions. We have gotten record amounts of money in and we've used that money for appropriate remedial measures so that people can stay in their houses, have their mortgages reduced. So a lot of good has come from our efforts in that regard."
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Holder interview: Things we learned
This June 6, 2013, file photo shows U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) more >
If theres one thing that Eric Holder regrets during his time as attorney general for the United States, its his failure to press through a Second Amendment crackdown on the heels of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, he said.
I think the inability to pass reasonable gun safety laws after the Newtown massacre is something that weighs heavily on my mind, Mr. Holder said during an interview with CNN.
He was speaking of the White House push to pass a federal background check mandate for all commercial gun sales, as well as an outright ban on so-called assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, in the wake of the December 2012 school tragedy.
The last of the legislative efforts to fail was a universal background check law that couldnt make it out of the Democrat-controlled Senate. President Obama then announced a slew of executive actions to curb gun rights.
But Mr. Holder still reflected over the stronger legislation that never did pass.
And the thought that we could not translate that horror into reasonable I mean, really reasonable gun safety measures that were supported by the vast majority of the American people is for me something that I take personally as a failure, he said, The Hill reported. And something that I think we as a society should take as a failure a glaring failure that I hope will ultimately be rectified.
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Eric Holder: 'I take personally as a failure' the inability to pass gun control
By Humberto Sanchez Posted at 5 a.m. today
Cruz, left, and Sessions both sit on the Judiciary Committee and will have a change to grill the nominee for attorney general. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Eric H. Holder Jr.s replacement as attorney general will face a grilling from the Senate Judiciary Committee after the elections, with the position key to enabling President Barack Obamas pen-and-phone executive agenda and with numerous hot-button issues under the purview of the Justice Department.
The nominee to replace Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who is also leaving, will also face much the same treatment.
Here are 10 questions the nominees will likely hear:
1. What is the limit of the presidents executive authority on immigration?
The nominee will face questions from senators either just before or just after the president announces sweeping executive action to expand deportation relief to illegal immigrants, a move sure to enrage the GOP.
Many Republicans say the president can not act without Congress, which, under Article I of the Constitution, has authority over immigration. The House has already voted to end the presidents existing program known as DACA deferring deportations for young immigrants brought here illegally.
Expect Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, both members of the Judiciary Committee, to lead the questioning on this front.
2. Will you ignore the federal prohibition on marijuana in states that legalize the drug? Do you support raids on state-licensed medical marijuana operations? Should it be a Schedule I drug?
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10 Questions for Eric Holder's Replacement as Attorney General
updated 10:21 AM EDT, Tue October 21, 2014
Washington (CNN) -- The outgoing U.S. attorney general said he is "cautiously optimistic" when it comes to Washington and Colorado's experiment with marijuana legalization.
Eric Holder, who announced last month his plans to retire, is one of President Barack Obama's longest-serving Cabinet members and has faced the delicate task of defining federal policy after a wave of marijuana legalization at the state level across the country.
"We don't want to put into the federal system, low level people who are simply there for possessory offenses," Holder said Monday in an interview with CNN's Evan Perez
Holder last year outlined eight enforcement areas the Justice Department would focus on in a move aimed at calming nerves in Washington and Colorado, the only two states where recreational marijuana is legal.
The eight "priority areas" have focused the Justice Department's efforts on preventing marijuana distribution to minors, inter-state trafficking and drug violence.
But Holder made clear Monday that his agency could change its non-interventionist stance if the states' regulatory frameworks aren't up to snuff.
"What I've told the governors of those states is that if we're not satisfied with their regulatory scheme that we reserve the right to come in and to sue them. So we'll see," Holder said.
The sale and possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
The Justice Department's policy hasn't meant total immunity for marijuana growers and dispensaries in states with both medical and recreation marijuana, where dispensaries and growhouses have since been raided and owners prosecuted.
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Holder "cautiously optimistic" on legal pot