S10694 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 20, 2008 

took care of the military. He took care 

of upgrading the military bases because, of course, he served in the military. And he wanted more than anything for our military people to have 

the quality of life they deserved. So I 

see him as someone who has been what 

people say is so rare in this city, and 

that is a true friend. 

It has been mentioned a couple of 

times that he has a gruff exterior. 

When I see pictures of him in the newspaper and he is looking like this, it is 

not the TED STEVENS we know. It is not 

the person who has endeared himself to 

our colleagues for years and years and 

years in the Senate. That is his manner, but I always said behind his back: 

He is all bark and no bite. He is the 

most loyal friend and the person you 

could go to when you needed advice, as 

I know his great colleague from Alaska, Senator MURKOWSKI, has done 

many times, as have I, but also when 

you needed help. 

I, too, have traveled with TED STEVENS and DANNY INOUYE because I was 

fortunate enough, with TED’s help, to 

get on the Defense Appropriations 

Committee. So we went to the garden 

spots of the world such as Bosnia, when 

the Serbs had been shooting from the 

hills, and when we went undercover 

with flight jackets, undercover of delivering 2,000 pounds of peas to the 

many refugees who were in Bosnia at 

the time. We came into the Sarajevo 

airport with our helmets on and our 

flight jackets. Of course, it was a wartorn city. We saw later, when we went 

there, the former Olympic fields that 

were burial grounds because they had 

no place else to put the people who had 

died in these terrible, tragic circumstances in Bosnia. 

I went with TED STEVENS and DANNY

INOUYE to Saudi Arabia where I was 

told later that it was actually discouraged that a woman would be in a delegation. But TED STEVENS said: No way 

was there ever going to be discrimination against a Senator. I was a part of 

that delegation. I went to our airbase 

there. I went and met with everyone we 

met with as a delegation. I spoke in my 

turn, just as every member of our delegation did, because TED STEVENS was 

always going to stand up for the right 

of every Senator to be a part of a foreign delegation. 

I went to the farm bureau air show 

with TED STEVENS. There is nothing 

more joyous than TED STEVENS when 

he is in an air museum or at an air 

show. He is an aviator to his core. He 

asked all the questions. He knew most 

of the answers already because he 

knows airplanes and he knows aviation. 

I know what this man has been 

through for the last few months. I 

know the toll it takes on himself and 

his family. 

I am proud to stand with TED STEVENS because I value his friendship and 

all he has done for me in my term in 

the Senate and what he has done for 

Texas every time I have needed for 

Texas to be taken care of. 

I will say two things in conclusion 

about TED STEVENS. His country has 

never called that he has not answered 

the call—from the military, to being in 

the Eisenhower administration, to 

fighting for Alaska to be a State, and 

then fighting to make Alaska a great 

State. It is a great State. 

It would not be the State it is without your leadership, TED. 

But I want to say the most important 

thing I think you could say about anyone you know; that is, those who know 

him best love him most. 

Thank you. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington. 

f 

EXTENSION OF MORNING 

BUSINESS 

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the time for 

morning business be extended until 2 

p.m., with Senators permitted to speak 

for up to 10 minutes each. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

The Senator from Hawaii. 

f 

TRIBUTE TO SENATORS 

TED STEVENS

Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise to 

pay honor to Senator TED STEVENS of 

Alaska. While our country may not realize this, TED has been a great advocate on a number of important issues 

for our country. Reminding our country of its responsibility to its indigenous people has been one of the major 

causes that TED STEVENS has pursued 

and advanced. It has been a delight to 

work with him to expand opportunities 

and help our indigenous peoples of the 

noncontiguous States of Alaska and 

Hawaii, as well as those across the 

country. 

We have worked well together to improve the lives of Federal employees. 

We tried hard this Congress to enact 

meaningful reforms on telework opportunities in the Federal Government 

and, most importantly, to provide retirement equity to Federal employees 

in Alaska, Hawaii, and the territories 

by extending locality pay to those 

areas. Your leadership on those issues 

was invaluable to our efforts to move 

the bills forward. Thank you for your 

efforts to expand opportunities for Federal employees. 

Also, I want to mention something 

that is probably an unknown part of 

history, and that is a number of years 

ago I discovered that since 1965 the 

model of the Statue of Freedom was in 

storage at the Smithsonian. I worked 

to try to bring that statute here to the 

Capitol, and I was having a hard time 

with that until TED STEVENS joined 

me. With his help we were able to move 

that statue from storage in the Smithsonian to the Capitol. 

It was, as you may now know, the 

model which was erected in the Russell 

rotunda. I am pleased to say that on 

December 2, 2008, the new Capitol Visitor Center will be dedicated and that 

Statue of Freedom will be placed between the two escalators that will lead 

to the Capitol. For me and for TED STEVENS, this symbolizes that freedom is 

returning to the Capitol of the United 

States. And on December 2, 2008, the 

Center will be open and the Statue of 

Freedom will be an eminent part of the 

Visitor Center. 

I thank TED STEVENS for all the help 

that he has given us in Hawaii and 

other States. He has brought strength 

and passion to the Senate and has been 

a constant presence in this institution. 

And for Millie and me, TED, I want to 

say aloha, and a warm aloha and 

mahalo nui loa to you for all the 

friendship that we have had and continue to have. I want to say God bless 

you and Catherine and your family in 

the years ahead. 

Mahalo. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota. 

Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I 

think the length of my service is a 

blink of the eye compared to those who 

have spoken before. And as I stand 

here, I cannot tell you whether it is 

going to be two blinks. 

But I was on the CODEL with the 

Senator from Washington. We were in 

China with Senator STEVENS, and I 

would like to offer some insight, if I 

can, as to the question raised by my 

colleague from Kansas as to what 

makes TED STEVENS tick. 

When we were in China, Senator STEVENS was treated as a hero. And he is a 

hero because of his service in World 

War II. He flew under General Chennault and went over, I think it was, the 

China-India-Burma bump. He landed in 

places in China to refurbish supplies, 

ammunition, I think, bring in intelligence sources, as described to me, 

where landing fields were cut out. 

There may have been a foot on one side 

and a foot on the other side, and this 

young guy was flying in there because 

he loved his country. 

When we talk about TED STEVENS

and his service to our country—so 

many talk about 40 years in the Senate—as I reflected on who that young 

guy was, flying in there with absolute 

fearlessness, with courage, with love of 

country, he is the same guy. He is the 

same guy. That is what he has given to 

this country his entire adult life, and it 

has been given in great service to this 

country. I think that is pretty special. 

He has the veneer of a tough guy. 

And TED STEVENS can be tough. There 

is no question about that. But those of 

us who know him also see the love, the 

love that is in his heart, reflected in 

love of country, but love of family, love 

for his magnificent wife, love for his 

daughter. You see the gleam in his eye 

anytime he talks about her or she is in 

his presence. We see the love he has for 

this body, the love he has for his colleagues, even, by the way, for those 

with whom he disagrees. I have not 

been on the side of ANWR with my colleague from Alaska. But if you simply 


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tell him where you are and you give 

your word and live by that, he is always there with you. 

Senator SMITH is not with us today, 

but few of us will ever forget when he 

stood on the floor of this Senate after 

the tragic death of his son and reflected upon the support of his colleagues and took special note of the 

fact that he was not with TED STEVENS

on the most important issue to TED at 

that time: ANWR. Yet when Senator 

SMITH suffered tragedy in his life, who 

was the first person to step up to try to 

provide support, to try to ensure that 

cause get there? It was Senator STEVENS. 

That is the person we know. He has 

given his entire adult life to service to 

this Nation—extraordinary service to 

this Nation—and he has done it with 

fearlessness, courage, love, and commitment, as with everything he did as 

a young man. He has never lost any of 

those qualities, and we see them today. 

This Nation has been blessed by his 

service, and many of us have been 

blessed by his friendship, and we wish 

him our very best. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho. 

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I come to 

the floor this afternoon with tremendously mixed emotions to visit with all 

of you and with our country about Senator TED STEVENS of Alaska. 

Many have said much about this 

great man. I will not say a great deal, 

but I will try to express it in an emotional way for a fellow I have known of 

for 28 years and have known personally 

for 18 years. 

So let me visit for a moment as a 

westerner, as somebody from a public 

lands State, where the Federal Government is, in many instances, dominant 

over the lives of small communities 

and citizens in a way that most of you 

from nonpublic lands States wouldn’t 

ever appreciate. I know that passion. I, 

every day of my life, in working with 

TED STEVENS, sensed that passion in a 

way that if you are not from a public 

lands State, if you do not have an 

agency or a bureaucrat dictating to 

you about the lives of your citizens and 

your people, you would simply never 

understand. 

But TED grasped that early on and 

without question has been the champion of his State and their citizens in a 

way that no other Senator has been. I 

have so tremendously respected that. 

I have been in and out of Alaska several times in my tenure as a Senator or 

as a Congressman. I will close with an 

expression given to me by a cab driver 

in Anchorage that says more to me 

about this man than anything I could 

possibly say myself. 

I was en route from downtown Anchorage, TED, to the TED STEVENS

International Airport. We rounded the 

curve and pulled up. As I exited the 

cab, I looked up, and there was your 

name. I said: Oh, my, TED’s got an airport. That is neat. 

And the cab driver said, ‘‘Do you 

know Uncle Ted?’’ 

I said, ‘‘Well, yes, I do. I work for 

him in the Senate.’’ 

He said ‘‘You do?’’ 

I said ‘‘Sure do.’’ 

He said, ‘‘Give him my best when you 

get back to Washington because, as an 

Alaskan, I know of no other person who 

has done more for my State than Uncle 

Ted.’’ 

Well, TED STEVENS now knows why I 

call him Uncle TED more often than 

not. I view that as a much more affectionate term than Senator STEVENS because, as I was flying out of that great 

State and headed down the coast, looking off to my left at those phenomenal 

mountains and expanses of wilderness 

and public lands and resources, I 

thought: If any one person deserves the 

credit for taking this phenomenal region of our world and providing reasonable points of life for so many of its 

citizens, it is Uncle TED STEVENS. 

Uncle TED, I am going to miss you. 

This Senate will miss you. Your State 

will miss you. And America will miss 

you. 

Thank you for your service. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky. 

Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I have 

had the good fortune of coming to the 

Congress in 1987 as a Member of the 

House of Representatives. Therefore, I 

did not get to mingle and get to know 

TED STEVENS really well—just in conferences. If you want to get through to 

the other side of TED STEVENS—not the 

one we have heard about so much on 

the floor today—go to a conference 

with TED STEVENS, and he will defend 

his issues and his particular beliefs in 

that conference as good as anyone I 

know of these 100 people who are in the 

Senate. 

But then, in 1998, I had the good fortune of being elected to the Senate. 

When you come to the Senate for the 

first time, and you have had an encounter with TED STEVENS in any manner, it is kind of like: Oh, my God, is he 

really that tough to deal with all the 

time or is that a facade we see? 

Well, I have gotten to know, over the 

last 10 years, the true TED STEVENS. If 

you want someone who represents 

America representing you in the Senate, it is TED STEVENS—not only for his 

State, for the defense of our country, 

for the principles of the United States 

on which we stand, our Founders embedded in TED STEVENS’ mind, but for 

all the other things this country stands 

for: the goodness of its people, giving 

to others, allowing them to get to 

know you to the point of changing that 

gruff outside into pure love. I have 

found TED STEVENS to be the most 

straightforward, honest Senator I have 

ever dealt with. He has given me, just 

by association for the last 10 years, the 

basis on which I serve here in the Senate. He has given me the example. He 

has given me the principles and the 

things that each and every one of us 

here on the Senate floor should demonstrate daily. Sure, we all look out 

for our State; he does it better than everyone. Sure, we look out for the 

United States of America as a whole— 

and he has done it better than anyone—but for family values or love of 

family, for love of fellow citizens and 

fellow Senators, this man is a shining 

example of what a Senator should be. I 

will hold his friendship dear until we 

both die. I thank him for his service. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi. 

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, this is 

not my desk. I choose to speak from 

this place because the vantage point is 

better, because I will also have something to say about the delightful wife 

of Senator TED STEVENS. I am the junior-most Member of this body. I am 

here today with the junior Senator 

from Alaska and two of the longest 

serving Members of the Senate. It is almost presumptuous for me to even rise 

to speak at this occasion, but I do so 

because as the least ranking Member of 

the Senate, I wish to express my profound respect for Senator TED STEVENS. 

The previous speaker, my friend from 

Kentucky, said one way to get to know 

Members such as TED STEVENS is to go 

to a conference with them. As a Member of the House of Representatives, I 

had occasion to go to conferences sponsored by the Aspen Institute where we 

would discuss matters of importance to 

our Nation and to the world. It was at 

a conference in Istanbul on the subject 

of political Islam that I learned about 

the keen intellect of Senator TED STEVENS, and also the fact that a participant in that conference could be less 

than half Senator STEVENS’ age, but he 

was willing to engage with you, to listen to you, to have the give and take 

you can have in small group sessions 

such as that. I appreciate the opportunity I had as a Member then of the 

House of Representatives in having 

that sort of interaction with this great 

man. 

There has been expression today 

about the seemingly gruff exterior or 

facade of the man we speak of today. I 

will tell my colleagues who he is gruff 

about. He is not too happy about people such as Islamic jihadists, about the 

opponents of freedom around the world. 

He is a little gruff about anyone 

around the globe who would wish our 

country ill, and he makes no bones 

about that. 

I wish to commend Senator STEVENS

and to express my admiration to him 

for the good judgment and good fortune 

he has had in having as a spouse someone such as Catherine Stevens. 

I mention two very small stories that 

I think tell a lot about both Senator 

STEVENS and Catherine. We were at 

this conference and my wife was not 

able to accompany me. According to 

the rules, I was able to bring my college-age daughter Caroline. It happened that she needed to take an earlier flight to get back and I would stay 

with the conference for another day. I 


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found out later what happened. She 

said: Daddy, Mrs. Stevens gave me 

some money before I left. It happened 

this way: Mrs. Stevens asked Caroline 

how much money she had to make it 

through the various airports and Caroline told her and, as usual, her cheapskate dad had shortchanged her. Mrs. 

Stevens said, That is not enough 

money, and she pulled out a couple of 

hundred dollar bills to make sure Caroline got through the airport system 

safely. Here was the wife of the President pro tempore of the Senate being 

kind and being careful that a collegeage girl was well taken care of. I paid 

the money back, I wish to assure my 

colleagues, but I don’t know that I will 

ever be able to pay back the friendship. 

I have only been in the Senate some 

10 months. Early on I offered an 

amendment which was important to 

my State and my region. It was obvious that the amendment did not have 

the support of a majority. It was going 

to go down and go down in flames, as it 

did. I was down close to the front and 

had already abandoned all hope for the 

amendment passing. I am sure TED

does not even remember this, but he 

walked by the desk there and cast an 

aye vote for the Wicker amendment. 

He was one of the few people to do so. 

Someone was taking Senator STEVENS

to task for voting yes. He did not know 

I was listening, but I heard him say, ‘‘I 

did it to help Wicker.’’ I am sure that 

was the only reason he cast that vote. 

I can tell my colleagues I appreciated 

that act of kindness, just as I appreciated Catherine Stevens’ act of kindness toward my daughter. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said: 

Lives of great men all remind us we can 

make our lives sublime, and departing, leave 

behind us footprints on the sands of time. 

Now, the junior Senator from Alaska 

did a wonderful job of outlining the 

many footprints our friend TED STEVENS has left for both the United 

States of America and the people specifically of his beloved State of Alaska. 

The people of Alaska will long live better, Alaskans yet unborn will live better because of the efforts of TED STEVENS. Americans today and Americans 

yet unborn will be safer and live freer 

because of the service and the leadership of TED STEVENS. I am honored 

down to my bones to be able to stand 

on the floor of the Senate today and 

pay tribute to this great man. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi is recognized. 

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am 

pleased to have been here to hear most 

of the comments and remarks of our 

colleagues about the distinguished career of the Senator from Alaska, TED

STEVENS. I haven’t had a better friend 

in the Senate than TED STEVENS and 

his example and his friendship have 

been very vital to my service in the 

Senate, and the people of my State 

have benefited from the relationship I 

have had. So I am glad to have this opportunity here today, when so many 

are saying the things that come to 

their mind and are in their heart about 

the impact TED STEVENS has had on 

the work of this Senate and on individual Senators and their careers. 

I am one of those who had the privilege of being by his side as a member of 

the Appropriations Committee. After 2 

years in the Senate, I was able to get 

on that committee and moved up pretty quickly, because of the retirements 

of other Senators, to sit by his side and 

to benefit from his example. I am 

grateful to have had that opportunity, 

and I thank him for his generosity, for 

his time and his efforts to help assure 

that I was assisted. I tried to be helpful 

to not only my State but to programs 

and activities within the Department 

of Defense that I had strong feelings 

about and thought were very vital to 

our national security interests. Missile 

defense comes to mind as one of those 

issues that we dealt with in a way that 

led our country to move forward quickly. Senator INOUYE was very much a 

part of that as well. I think their experience and the way they worked together served as an example to the rest 

of us as to how working through the 

committee system of the Senate benefits our country and how it is important to this institution that traditions 

be respected and observed. It is not just 

for procedural standpoint benefits, but 

it truly does improve the quality of the 

work and the importance of the influence of the Senate in our government 

today. 

So I can’t say enough in terms of 

praise and expression of appreciation, 

except that we are going to miss the 

benefit and the example of TED STEVENS here in this Senate. There is no 

way around that. We are suffering a 

loss by his departure from the Senate. 

We wish him well. We know he is going 

to be around and we look forward to 

continuing the friendship and the opportunities to get advice. He may volunteer some advice that he thinks we 

might need, and I hope he will. I invite 

him to. We will continue to benefit 

from his service and the things he has 

done in his great career to help this institution and our great country. 

It is a sad day for me but one that I 

know he appreciates very much in 

terms of the people who have spoken 

and the things that have been said 

about him. These are words of praise 

that are very well earned. 

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I suggest 

the absence of a quorum. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. 

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I 

ask unanimous consent that the order 

for the quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, 

there have been some beautiful tributes made to my colleague, the senior 

Senator from Alaska today, and I am 

certain that others will be coming to 

the floor to speak of their relationship, 

their experiences, and to speak of the 

good works of Senator STEVENS. I 

would encourage them to come to the 

floor or to certainly submit their written comments for the RECORD so that 

Senator STEVENS can have the full opportunity of those, and I ask unanimous consent for that. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, are we 

in a quorum call? 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are 

not. 

Mr. ISAKSON. I ask unanimous consent to be recognized to pay a brief 

tribute to our dear friend, the senior 

Senator from Alaska, Senator STEVENS. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I wish 

to say that when I was elected 4 years 

ago, a gentleman by the name of Mack 

Mattingly called me on the telephone, 

a former Senator from 1981 to 1986, and 

he said, ‘‘Johnny, when you get to 

Washington and you get to the Senate, 

you go meet TED STEVENS. TED STEVENS is the best friend you will ever 

have.’’ 

I stand here today, 4 years later, telling you he was exactly right. There is 

not a person in this Chamber you have 

not been willing to help. There is not 

an Alaskan you have not helped. You 

are a steadfast friend, and you are as 

tough as nails. I wish to tell you how 

much I appreciate, from the bottom of 

my heart, what you have done to help 

me and the citizens of Georgia. Your 

work on Commerce, your work on Appropriations, your work on Armed 

Forces, and your work on the military, 

all of it is important to Georgia. You 

have been a champion all along. You 

are a true hero. 

The tributes today are well deserved 

to a great man, a great Alaskan, and a 

great Senator. God bless you. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, I wanted to take a moment to say how much 

I have appreciated the friendship of 

TED STEVENS. He and his wife are a 

wonderful team. 

Since I was elected a short—to him— 

12 years ago, it has been truly enjoyable to work with TED on the numerous 

western issues before this body. Often, 

those issues correspond to Alaska 

issues, working for a strong military, 

missile defense, sound land management practices, energy development. 

He has been very helpful to Colorado. 

I have particularly admired his work 

for our Nation’s military. TED and I 

worked together, and worked hard, on 

missile defense. He was an appropriator, I was an authorizer. I should also 

say, he was a titan of the Senate, I was 

a freshman Senator. So the workload 

was a little unfair, in my favor. But 

we, along with many others, got the 

missile defense established. I am delighted that after such a rocky fight 

the system is now a cornerstone of not 

only our national defense, but of our 


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NATO relationship as well. European 

militaries understand the value of 

what we can do, and what protections 

we can afford them. TED saw this, he 

knew what the results would be, and he 

shouldered the burden, fought the 

fight, and dragged the system into reality. 

I have had the pleasure of helping 

TED raise money for his conservation 

efforts on the World Famous Kenai 

River. I have been fortunate enough to 

join him on the river. I had the even 

greater fortune to win his annual tournament a couple times. Some rivers are 

just lucky for some fisherman, and 

while I might wish my lucky river is a 

little closer to home than Kenai, AK, 

being lucky on a river famous for its 

prize salmon is not so bad. And what he 

is doing for that river, his conservation 

efforts, is remarkable. I have noticed a 

difference between my first visit and 

my last. 

My wife Joan and I wish TED and his 

wife Catherine the best. God Bless. 

f 

NOMINATION OF ERIC HOLDER 

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to 

speak about some of the things we have 

seen recently in the press about the 

President-elect nominating Eric H. 

Holder, Jr. to be Attorney General. 

Eric Holder would make an outstanding and historic nominee if President-elect Obama were to choose to 

nominate him. Mr. Holder would be the 

first African American to be nominated 

and confirmed to serve as Attorney 

General, the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the country. But 

far more important than that, he 

would be as qualified a person as could 

be found in either party in this country. 

Over the last 8 years, political manipulation and influence from partisan 

political operatives in the White House 

have undercut the Department of Justice and its mission, severely undermined the morale of its career professionals, and shaken public confidence 

in our Federal justice system. We need 

the new Attorney General to be a person not only of integrity and experience, but also somebody who can inspire the thousands of hard-working 

prosecutors, agents and employees who 

do their best every day to enforce the 

law and promote justice without regard 

to partisan politics. We need an Attorney General in the mode of Robert H. 

Jackson, and Eric Holder fits that 

mold. 

Investigations by the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House and by 

the Department of Justice’s own inspector general have substantiated 

some of our worst fears. As you go 

around the courts in this country, we 

now see a corrosive situation in which 

defendants routinely question whether 

Federal prosecutions are politically 

motivated; not whether the law was 

broken but whether political considerations determined whether the prosecution would be brought. Great damage has been done to the credibility 

and effectiveness of the Justice Department. 

I have known Eric Holder for years. 

If he is President-elect Obama’s selection to be the next Attorney General, 

he will bring the kind of leadership, 

temperament, experience, and judgment we need to restore the rule of law 

and rebuild the reputation of the Department of Justice so it is worthy of 

its name. 

In October, before the results of the 

current election were known, I wrote 

with Senator SPECTER about the kind 

of person who should be appointed the 

next Attorney General of the United 

States. Eric H. Holder, Jr., surely fits 

the bill. The next Attorney General has 

to understand our moral and legal obligations to protect the fundamental 

rights of all Americans. The Attorney 

General must ensure that the Department of Justice is working to uphold 

the Constitution and the rule of law, 

not working to circumvent them in 

order to promote the President’s political agenda. 

We need an Attorney General who realizes that no one is above the law. The 

Attorney General is not above the law 

and no Member of this body, but especially the President of the United 

States, is above the law. 

I know Mr. Holder appreciates and 

respects the work and commitment of 

the thousands of men and women who 

work at the Justice Department in 

their dedication to enforcing the law 

and promoting justice. They know him 

from his days at the Public Integrity 

Section, from his time as a U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, from 

his years as the Deputy Attorney General, the second highest ranking official in the Department. I think this 

choice would be welcomed by career 

professionals and prosecutors at the 

Department of Justice. He can do a 

great deal to restore morale as well as 

the rule of law. 

His career has been one of ‘‘firsts’’. It 

would be fitting for him to become the 

first African American nominated and 

confirmed to serve as the Attorney 

General of the United States. 

Shortly after his graduation from Colombia Law School, he joined the Department of Justice as part of the Attorney General’s honors program. He 

was assigned to the newly formed Public Integrity Section in 1976. He worked 

there for 12 years investigating and 

prosecuting corruption. While at the 

Public Integrity Section, Mr. Holder 

participated in a number of prosecutions and appeals involving such defendants as the State treasurer of Florida, a former Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, a local judge in 

Philadelphia, and assistant U.S. attorney in New York City, an FBI agent, 

and a capo in an organized crime family. 

After a dozen years as a prosecutor, 

one of the best there was, President 

Ronald Reagan nominated him to be an 

associate judge on the Superior Court 

of the District of Columbia. When Ronald Reagan nominated him to be a 

judge, he was easily confirmed, and he 

served in that position for 5 years. He 

left the bench—becoming, incidentally 

again, the first African American U.S. 

attorney for the District of Columbia. 

That is the largest U.S. Attorney’s Office in the country. While in that post, 

he oversaw prosecution of a powerful 

Democratic Congressman. 

Four years later he was nominated to 

the important post of Deputy Attorney 

General. I worked with the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Orrin Hatch to report 

his nomination favorably to the Senate. I was disturbed that an anonymous 

Republican hold delayed consideration 

of his nomination for 3 weeks. But 

when that hold was lifted and we had a 

vote—open, in the daylight—all 100 

Senators voted to confirm Eric Holder 

to be the Deputy Attorney General of 

the United States. He became the first 

African American in the history of the 

Department to achieve that high position and later served briefly as the Acting Attorney General. 

But, notwithstanding my friendship 

with Mr. Holder, notwithstanding my 

friendship with the President-elect, 

should he be nominated, Mr. Holder 

should be voted for or against on his 

merits. His race will be a historic footnote, but that is not what should make 

the difference. 

Whoever is nominated to the position 

of the chief law enforcement officer of 

this country should be considered on 

his or her merits. And what wonderful 

merits he has. He has prosecuted highlevel public officials and organized 

crime; developed comprehensive programs to combat domestic violence, 

child abuse, violent crime; revitalized 

programs to assist crime victims. He 

has helped guide the Department’s efforts in the criminal prosecution of 

corporations, health care fraud, computer crimes, software piracy, helped 

develop a community prosecution 

model. He has served in nearly every 

level of the Department of Justice he 

would lead. That is what makes him 

qualified. 

We need an Attorney General, as 

Robert H. Jackson said 68 years ago 

about the Federal prosecutor, ‘‘who 

serves the law, not factional purposes, 

and who approaches his task with humility.’’ That is the kind of prosecutor 

Eric Holder always was, and that is the 

kind of Attorney General he would be. 

This is very personal to me. I consider the 8 years I spent as a prosecutor 

in Vermont after returning from law 

school one of the best opportunities I 

ever had to serve the public. 

I came close to serving in that area 

in the Federal Government. The thenAttorney General had invited me in to 

talk and to encourage me to come to 

the Department of Justice. He had reviewed my grades, he had reviewed 

where I was in the Georgetown Law 

Center, and he talked to me about coming in to the Department. I said to 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with SENATE