Norton applauds selection of Attorney General
Issue date: 12/7/08 Section: Cover
Holder, who would be the first African-American to serve as attorney general, comes one year after New York activist Al Sharpton led a march of thousands around the Justice Department, decrying policies that have failed to fairly deal with police misconduct and hate crimes.
Holder, whose pending appointment must first be confirmed by the U. S. Senate, would not only be the first African-American to serve as attorney general, but is viewed as a fair-minded former judge whose civil rights record reputedly bespeaks balance, fairness and equity.
Legal experts who deal in racial justice say these are the qualities that have been missing in the Bush Justice Department, largely characterized by decisions made by Republican political appointees viewed as cold to civil rights laws. A widely held complaint has been that Bush administrative appointees have often undermined opinions and legal advice of lawyers - especially in the civil rights division.
"The last eight years have probably been the most disastrous for the Department of Justice in its history. They have been catastrophic for the Civil Rights Division," says John Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. "The mission of the Civil Rights Division has been literally abandoned; its career attorneys forced out or demoralized, its leadership compromised by political considerations. In many important ways, we have not really had a Civil Rights Division for the past eight years." Holder could help fix that, says Payton.
"The mission of the next attorney general will be to restore - not just the integrity of the Department of Justice but its very soul," says Payton. "Eric Holder is a spectacular pick."
From NNPA and District Chronicles staff.
Holder, whose pending appointment must first be confirmed by the U. S. Senate, would not only be the first African-American to serve as attorney general, but is viewed as a fair-minded former judge whose civil rights record reputedly bespeaks balance, fairness and equity.
Legal experts who deal in racial justice say these are the qualities that have been missing in the Bush Justice Department, largely characterized by decisions made by Republican political appointees viewed as cold to civil rights laws. A widely held complaint has been that Bush administrative appointees have often undermined opinions and legal advice of lawyers - especially in the civil rights division.
"The last eight years have probably been the most disastrous for the Department of Justice in its history. They have been catastrophic for the Civil Rights Division," says John Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. "The mission of the Civil Rights Division has been literally abandoned; its career attorneys forced out or demoralized, its leadership compromised by political considerations. In many important ways, we have not really had a Civil Rights Division for the past eight years." Holder could help fix that, says Payton.
"The mission of the next attorney general will be to restore - not just the integrity of the Department of Justice but its very soul," says Payton. "Eric Holder is a spectacular pick."
From NNPA and District Chronicles staff.
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