Attorney General Eric Holder announced in late September that he would step down from office, leading to speculation as to whether America’s top law enforcement officer will go quietly or if he will rush through last-minute, longstanding projects.
The most likely scenario, according to a few analysts, is that Holder’s final days will be quiet, even dull.
“Eric Holder has the option to build on his controversial legacy and to build for a future career in politics or he can sit back and keep things quiet so the next Attorney General can take the reins,” Mitchell E. Baroody, a government relations strategist, said in an email to the Washington Examiner. “I expect Mr. Holder to keep a low profile, quietly accepting what he has done until he is replaced.”
However, Baroody added, considering “Holder’s record and significant focus on Civil Rights issues during his time at the [Justice Department], if he were to focus on any issues, it would seem likely he would give the Missouri situation extra attention.”
The reference is, of course, to the shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. Since the shooting, Holder has taken a keen interest in the case.
“I expect [Holder’s] successor to be in place before any major moves are made by the administration that will require his vocal and expressive opinion,” Baroody said.
The current Attorney General “will likely sit back, relax and keep quiet for the rest of his time at the DOJ because he will be practicing ‘Do No Harm,’ at the likely suggestion of the White House,” he added.
Holder has “always approached his assignments with strategy and patience. His personal brand has never included ‘rush in and get ’em’ techniques,” strategist Farrah Parker agreed in an email to the Examiner.
“As a result, his final days will be a methodical process of continuing his work while simultaneously outlining steps for his successor,” Parker said.
Holder said when he announced his resignation that he would only step down after his successor had been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Obama has yet to nominate someone to take Holder’s place, but it’s looking increasingly likely that Loretta Lynch, the head federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., will get the White House nod.
“Since Eric Holder’s exit is contingent upon the confirmation of his appointment, it may be a while before he leaves,” attorney Kenneth Eade told the Examiner. “But as far as major legal issues, as an African American attorney general working for the first African American president, what he should really do in his final days is to reverse the damage that the Government has done to civil liberties” under this and previous administrations.
In one of the surest signs that the White House and its allies are worried about the Nov. 4 midterm elections, top Senate Democrats are reportedly discussing a confirmation blitz during Congress’ upcoming lame duck session after Election Day.
“We will definitely move a lot of nominees during the lame duck one way or the other — possibly more if Republicans take the majority,” a Democratic Senate aide told Talking Points Memo.
This reported flurry of nominations might include Holder’s successor.
Surprisingly enough, however, some of Holder’s most outspoken critics in Congress have remained silent on the subject of the Attorney General’s final days.
“I think the biggest concern is that the Democrats would try to use a lame duck session to push through an Obama nominee under a Congress where many have been voted out of office,” Sen. Ted Cruz’s, R-Texas, spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, told the Examiner.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who usually makes a great show of criticizing Holder, declined to comment on the Attorney General’s impending exit.
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has in the past had very public and very unpleasant confrontations with Holder, also did not respond to the Examiner‘s multiple requests for comment.
