I suppose this will make people on both the Left and the Right happy, though for different reasons: Eric Holder is expected to resign as the Attorney General, effective as soon as his successor is appointed.
Eric Holder Jr., the nation’s first black U.S. attorney general, is preparing to announce his resignation Thursday after a tumultuous tenure marked by civil rights advances, national security threats, reforms to the criminal justice system and 5 1/2 years of fights with Republicans in Congress.
Two sources familiar with the decision tell NPR that Holder, 63, intends to leave the Justice Department as soon as his successor is confirmed, a process that could run through 2014 and even into next year. A former U.S. government official says Holder has been increasingly “adamant” about his desire to leave soon for fear that he otherwise could be locked in to stay for much of the rest of President Obama’s second term.
I will always be disappointed that Holder did not vigorously pursue litigation against the Big Wall Street firms whose fraud led to one of the greatest financial crises in our nation’s history. I would have also liked to have seen prosecution of former Bush officials for their illegal actions regarding the Iraq war, but I never realistically expected that to happen. I always assumed that was too hot a political potato. However, there was broad support, from many on both the right and the left, for investigations and prosecutions of the Banksters, but nothing was ever done beyond a few show piece fines and settlements, and the indictments of a few lesser echelon scapegoats, such as Bernie Madoff. That failure to reign in the financial industry after the economic collapse of 2008-2009 will forever tarnish Holder’s legacy as the first African-American to hold the office of Attorney General.
Name a specific bank and some specific people and cite the laws that they broke.
Really? Go read everything Matt Tabibi ever wrote about these financial scandals, and the Senate report on the fraudulent actions of the banks. There’s plenty there. It’s not my job to do your googling for you.
The Justice Department did in fact sue and prosecute several bankers which suggests to me that they didn’t just have a blanket policy of ignoring financial crimes. So then the question is why weren’t there more prosecutions? And with respect to Matt Taibbi, I suspect a large part of the answer is that what the banks did was either legal or allegations against them were impossible to prove. Google is not a lawyer.
You assume that Eric Holder just didn’t try, and I don’t think that’s a justified assumption.
It is in fact your job to make the case when you state a claim. And “read Matt Taibbi” doesn’t cut it. He’s not a lawyer. He doesn’t know what is prosecutable or what isn’t. He certainly makes a good case that a lot of what happened SHOULD be illegal, but that’s not the same as saying that they are.
Find me a legal expert who can point to a specific banker who has done something illegal and can cite the statute. Then we’re getting somewhere.
It took me 10 seconds;
Bank of America. What they did was foreclose on active duty soldiers… while they were still overseas!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/bank-of-america-foreclosed-military_n_1702886.html
Bank of America did a lot more than this, but this is the one that I thought was a slam dunk for prosecution.
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“I suppose this will make people on both the Left and the Right happy”
So obviously written by a white guy who has zero idea of what AG Holder has meant to people of color.
I resent that. Yes, he did a lot of good, espeically in the areas of investigating state discrimination of people if color in the voting rights area, regarding profiling based on ethnicity, etc. But his record will be tarnished by the poor record re: Wall Street, and yes, there are those on the left who are not happy with him and that does not mean they are not cognizant of the fact that he meant a great deal to people of color. I’m not thrilled with everything Obama has done either. Does that also mean I’m not cognizant of what his presidency meant to people of color?
Sorry if you resent it – but I suggest you use that to examine your perspective.
Your statement was that Holder’s resignation would make people on both the left and right “happy.” People of color as well as white people who prioritize the importance of civil rights make up a HUGE portion of people on the left – and I find almost none of them that are “happy” with Holder’s resignation.
So his skin color trumps everything. That’s called racism.
A shame that all those people of color lost their homes while the TBTF crooks were bailed out and are now richer than ever.
Rep. John Lewis was not “happy” with AG Holder’s resignation.
https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/515199236229832704
The truth is – white people prioritize prosecution of Bush/Cheney and the banks. While people of color prioritize Holder’s work on voting rights, immigrant rights, sentencing reform, criminal justice reform, rebuilding the Civil Rights Division at DOJ, the school-to-prison pipeline, Native American settlements, Ferguson, etc. The latter are NOT ‘happy” today.
Where did I criticize any of Holder’s work on the issues that you’ve listed? And a hell of a lot of “white people” voted for de Blasio in part because they too viewed the NYC stop and frisk policy as an egregious violation of the civil rights of people of color.
A couple of problems with your claims. First, team Obama has deported more undocumented immigrants than team Bush did, and to date that’s about the only change to immigration that has occurred recently. “Ferguson” erupted over five years into Holder’s term in office. Like many police departments, it has been militarized by the federal government and that continued under Obama.
Perhaps you could explain why people of color aren’t concerned/troubled by predatory lenders/banksters? Considering that it impacts people of color harder than it does white people, I don’t get why it’s labeled a concern of white people only.
Speaking of John Lewis: October 12, 2007 Civil Rights Pioneer Endorses Clinton. Fortunately for Obama there were enough “white people” in Iowa and small donors nationwide that viewed him as the better choice for our white-assed legal/regulatory and economic concerns AND civil rights.
How dare you dismiss important concerns/interests of those that were instrumental in getting the man to the WH. Those weren’t race-based priorities but issues of equity and fairness for all peoples in this country.
check the news Marie and look to all those Black folk and people of color being killed/murdered by police, shot and killed just when they were just asking for help, or buying a fire arm, or carrying toy sword or just walking home from getting a bag of skittles or how about being shot at when you are reaching for your license that the police officer actually asked you to retrieve.
And tell me that I’m supposed to care more about Wall Street prosecution, than POC getting literally gunned down in the street by the same people who should be protecting all of us.
We all prioritize things in different ways. Unfortunately prosecuting Wall Street is NOT as high up for POC as for white folk.
Doesn’t mean we don’t care, just means that we have always had to prioritize our concerns.
See my response above.
If the dots aren’t connected to income/wealth inequalities, progress on those other issues will break down again and again as they have done over the past fifty years when the visionaries MLK, Jr. began articulating the economic discrimination that facilitated discrimination in all other areas.
Nah he knows.
He just doesn’t care.
Whatever needs to be said for us white folks to declare black folks failures, illegitimate, tarnished, deserving of being blown away, whatever – we’ll say it.
Without batting an eye.
And then declare ourselves to be the victim when called on it.
Pretty damn sweet rigged game, huh?
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/9/25/203043/132
To be fair Steve his record will be tarnished with white people and since it is still mostly white people who keep the records I suspect you will be right.
That has always been the case though and I expect nothing much to change that up until the population and therfore the record keepers become more diverse.
You do know he represented large corporations and banks in his private practice, right? I don’t think this was a black vs. white issue. I think it was a political decision that some banks and bank officials are too big to jail.
link
Yes I do know this.
And nothing should be a black or white issue, but you will be hard pressed to find any POC who doesn’t comment o kine or doesn’t follow politics word for word as I do who will tell you that Holder didn’t do enough to prosecute backs and let that be enough to say his record is tarnished.
Assuming just cause they feel that way and condescendingly telling them “um you do know…” as if they aren’t away or the other things you care about won’t change that
Damnit using my phone so can’t proofread but I think u can get the jist.
Well, I apologize for what I said then.
Nice evidence you’ve got for your allegations: Holder worked for large corps and banks – so he must have made a “political” decision.
That’s the kind of thing we tend to rip the right wingers for doing.
I suggest you dig a little deeper before you jump to conclusions.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/financial-crisis-why-no-executive-prosecutions/
A former U.S. government official says Holder has been increasingly “adamant” about his desire to leave soon for fear that he otherwise could be locked in to stay for much of the rest of President Obama’s second term.
Since Reid changed the rules of the Senate, I’m fairly sure this won’t happen. But does anyone know for sure that the GOP can’t muck up the works and basically make Holder stay until the end of President Obama’s second term?
I’m sure they will try.
Well, if the R’s take the Senate, you can say good-bye to confirmation of White House dogcatcher.
Holder has also been excellent also with changes in the Prison Industrial Complex. You think any other AG would be talking about getting rid of mandatory minimums, breaking down the disparity in sentencing for powder and crack, and making the reduction of sentences retroactive?
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Holder has been a champion for voting rights
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Holder helped to rebuild the Civil Rights Division
so, all you droooonessssss folks
can go somewhere and sit down.