Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Holder Going Forward

Reports suggest that Arlen Specter is prepared to confirm Eric Holder for AG. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Holder tomorrow. Specter's statement of support is here.

Specter's ax to grind is not related to torture, torture investigations, or torture prosecutions. Therefore it seems like Holder is well set up to be confirmed without having to go through arm-twisting on the part of some Republicans looking to exact a promise that there won't be torture prosecutions. Specter hasn't been promised such a thing - and he is good to go.

The NYT's liveblog of Holder's confirmation hearing is here. Hopefully Holder didn't promise too much to Republicans by way of prosecutions in the informal exchanges that have happened between his confirmation hearing and now. If he did, let's hope he wrote in pencil. Specter's notification of support today weakens Republican opposition, and decreases the likelihood that Holder will have to tie his hands regarding investigating and prosecuting Bush crimes. Disadvantage, Cornyn.

A great op-ed on the subject by Joseph L. Galloway.

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