The United States has had an attorney general ever since George Washington’s administration. The role of the attorney general always has been to enforce the laws of the United States and prosecute those who break the laws. The goal, from the start, was to provide even-handed justice, without showing favoritism or partiality to one’s political party. Of course, not all attorney generals carried out that task with great honor, particularly during times of highly partisan political warfare. Yet the aim has never changed, and attorney generals are held to a high standard. When that standard is violated, alarms are raised appropriately.
The attorney general who currently heads the Department of Justice, and has for the entire tenure of President Obama, is Eric Holder. He was a controversial figure even before taking this position. At the end of the Clinton administration, he was largely responsible for advocating for a number of very questionable presidential pardons, including a man named Marc Rich, who had fled the country to escape prison, but who had links to Bill Clinton. That, by itself, ought to have been enough to exclude Holder from this office. He had already proven his flair for using a government job for political purposes.
During his five years as attorney general, Holder has been involved with a series of partisan and unconstitutional actions. I don’t have a complete list, but just this one, off the top of my head, will suffice for now:
- The DOJ has determined that no prosecution of racial bias by blacks against whites will ever occur. This came to the forefront when New Black Panther members intimidated voters at a Philadelphia poll location. Although career lawyers in the DOJ moved forward with the prosecution, they were shut down by the political appointees. The case was closed.
- Shortly after Obama took office, the Holder DOJ declared it would not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), even though it was a duly passed law by Congress and the department had a constitutional obligation to see that it was carried out. This was purely political, setting the stage for a push for same-sex marriage. In this instance, the DOJ was actively trying to change society’s view of marriage.
- Operation Fast and Furious allowed guns to be sold to Mexican drug lords. Those guns were then used to murder a U.S. border agent and a multitude of Mexican citizens. Ostensibly, the goal was to trace the guns to the criminals, but it didn’t work out that way. Some suspect it was part of an ongoing desire to create a climate for greater gun control legislation.
- The DOJ unconstitutionally delved into the phone records of journalists, and even labeled one journalist, James Rosen of Fox, as a criminal co-conspirator just for doing his job of asking questions and seeking answers for a story.
- The latest outrage is evidence that taxpayer money was used by the DOJ to help with pro-Trayvon Martin protests back in 2012. The department put itself solidly on the side of Martin, declaring George Zimmerman guilty even before all the facts were known, and well before the trial where a jury of peers could sort out the testimony and come to a decision based on the law and the facts.
In all these instances, a political agenda has been at work. Holder is the ultimate political player. Yet he doesn’t act alone. Although the mainstream media tends to ignore the obvious, it is clear he is merely carrying out the wishes of his boss. Holder and Obama see eye-to-eye on all these issues. Obama has heightened racial tension in a number of ways, including intruding himself into the Trayvon Martin tragedy; he coyly delayed his support for same-sex marriage until he was reelected; he seeks greater restrictions on Second Amendment gun rights; he has made it clear he hates Fox News and anyone in the media who doesn’t bow to his wishes.
All these scandals that have been erupting over the past few months can be traced to the top. Eric Holder is simply the enforcer for the One.
And the One naturally has no idea what his loyal acolytes are doing. How credible is that?
Justice is being subverted systematically in the Obama years. It is deliberate. Those who understand the real definition of justice—the impartiality of the rule of law—need to take a strong stand now, before it becomes impossible to repair the damage.