More of the same we can believe in.

I guess. But wasnt this widely expected for months?

Yes, expected to be Holder or Deval Patrick, as Obama liked the obvious symbolism of having a black person leading the Justice Department.

Bad News on Holder: He was deeply involved in the Mark Rich pardon and has a bunch of other shady dealings in his past, as befits a high-ranking member of the Clinton DoJ.

Good News on Holder: He's not Jamie Gorelick, who is the most dangerously incompetent or least-lucky person among all 300 million souls in America, and who had snuck back in the rumor mill for this job since the election.

Wasn't Holder one of the lead signators to the anti-Heller amicus brief filed by "former DOJ officials?"
Why, yes he was:

Third after former AGs Reno and Katzenbach.

I think it's clear he's going to pardon all the criminals, take everyone's guns and replace Obama with Bill Clinton.

turdsimile:

What was his role? Drafting the 1-page pardon letter?
Certainly other parties - foreign governments (Spain, Israel), Democratic donors, friends and family of Rich, etc., played a bigger role in procuring the pardon.

From the NY Times (March 13, 2002), referring to a report by the House Government Affairs Committee:

Mr. Holder, the report says, played a major role, steering Mr. Rich's lawyers toward Jack Quinn, a former White House counsel. Mr. Rich hired Mr. Quinn, whose Washington contacts and ability to lobby the president made the difference, according to the report. It says that Mr. Holder's support for the pardon and his failure to alert prosecutors of a pending pardon were just as crucial.

The report says Mr. Holder became involved through a chance encounter with Gershon Kekst, a prominent public relations strategist who has advised Mr. Rich since 1997. The two men were seated together at a DaimlerChrysler dinner in November 1998, and Mr. Kekst asked what advice Mr. Holder had for someone who had been ''improperly indicted by an overzealous prosecutor.'' Mr. Holder recommended hiring ''a lawyer who knows the process, he comes to me, and we work it out.'' The report acknowledges that Mr. Holder did not realize he was speaking to someone in the Rich camp.

steering Mr. Rich's lawyers toward Jack Quinn

So that's what he did? He gave out a phone number, or simply dropped a name?

"Uhh, you should talk to Quinn about this."

Deeply involved.

Although it is unlikely to derail him from becoming AG, Eric Holder's role in the pardon scandal is problematic.

"In the Clinton pardon scandal, Holder was deputy attorney general when his duties intersected with the efforts of Rich's lawyer, Jack Quinn, who had been White House counsel earlier in the Clinton administration.

The entire matter was handled in an unorthodox manner - on a straight line from Rich's lawyer to the White House, with a consulting role for Holder.

Later, Holder said he told White House counsel Beth Nolan the day before the pardon was issued that he was "neutral, leaning toward favorable" in regard to the pardon. He said he and Nolan "never had a prolonged conversation about the matter."

To make matters worse, Holder had asked Quinn for his help in becoming attorney general in the event then-Vice President Al Gore won the 2000 election."

MisterBigTop: please name one AG nominee that you would be happy with.