By Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
While speaking to reporters regarding his resignation from the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder, who became the nation’s 82nd attorney general in February of 2009, said that he would continue to participate in the national debate on social and political issues, and that he would continue his service to our country. I am hopeful that he does exactly as he has stated.
Mr. Holder served as more than the nation’s chief legal officer. At times he was the nation’s judicial conscience. He spoke frankly about the role that racial prejudice has played historically in American society. During a speech in 2009, he called Americans “cowards” for failing to deal honesty with our country’s history of racial discrimination.
Not since the early 1960s when Attorney General Robert Kennedy headed the Justice Department, has an attorney general spoken so forcefully to America about social ills. In fact, Mr. Holder called Attorney General Kennedy his role model, often quoting Mr. Kennedy who once remarked that the Justice Department had a responsibility to be a “force for that which is right.”
When a conservative majority on the United States Supreme Court voted to remove the heart of the Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Holder, a former jurist, searched for others ways that the legislation could be used to prevent states from implementing policies and practices that discriminated against minority voters.
Always one to stand up for principle and the rule of law, Attorney General Holder has not been without his detractors inside and outside of politics. A Republican led House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress in the summer of 2012 after he refused to turn over documents that they wanted to use to pursue a partisan political agenda.
A large number of House Democrats, including all of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, walked off the floor of the House in protest of the action, and refused to participate in the vote. Attorney General Holder and the administration rightly characterized the House action as “political theater.”
When a 19-year-old unarmed black youth was killed last summer by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Attorney General Holder traveled to that Midwestern town, telling residents there that the Justice Department would conduct a fair and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
In Ferguson he shared his personal experiences as an African American male being stopped on the streets of Washington, D.C. by police officers for no legitimate reasons. He said that the practice was unacceptable and needed to end.
His presence in Ferguson and his candidness gave residents hope that the investigation into the shooting would be handled fairly. Attorney General Holder has also made the case for reform in sentencing, and has spoken out against the over-incarceration of Americans, most of them minorities and poor.
The American people owe Attorney General Holder a tremendous debt for his service. When he does exit the Justice Department he will leave the institution with a legacy of decency and fairness. I am certain that his role model, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, would be more than proud of his service to our nation.
