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Attorney General Eric Holder plans to push, during his final weeks in office, a new standard of proof for civil-rights offenses, saying in an exit interview with POLITICO that such a change would make the federal government a better backstop against discrimination in cases like Ferguson and Trayvon Martin.

In a lengthy discussion ranging from his own exposure to the civil rights movement of the 60s to todays controversies surrounding the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, Holder also acknowledged that he felt some of his own struggles with Republicans in Congress during his six years in office were driven partly by race.

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There have been times when I thought thats at least a piece of it, Holder said, adding that I think that the primary motivator has probably been political in nature [but] you cant let it deflect you from your eyes on the prize.

Holder told POLITICO that between now and his departure, probably in early March when the Senate is expected to confirm Loretta Lynch as his successor, he will call for a lower standard of proof for civil rights crimes. Such a change would make it easier for the federal government to bring charges in the case of a future Ferguson or Trayvon Martin.

I think some serious consideration needs to be given to the standard of proof that has to be met before federal involvement is appropriate, and thats something that I am going to be talking about before I leave office, Holder, 64, said.

The attorney generals comments appeared to be aimed partly at preparing the country for the possibility that no federal charges would be brought in the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., last summer. Holder said the inquiry would be completed when he left office, expected around the second week of March.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that the Martin investigation had been closed, with insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator who shot the unarmed black teenager to death back in 2012.

Asked if the bar for federal involvement in the civil rights offenses is too high for federal prosecutors to make cases in shootings like those of Martin and Brown, Holder suggested it was.

I think that if we adjust those standards, we can make the federal government a better backstop make us more a part of the process in an appropriate way to reassure the American people that decisions are made by people who are really disinterested, he said. I think that if we make those adjustments, we will have that capacity.

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Eric Holder wants lower bar for civil-rights cases - POLITICO