Eric Holder famous quotes

I am the attorney general of the United States. But I am also a black man,
-- Eric Holder

#Men #Black #United States

There's a certain level of vehemence, it seems to me, that's directed at me [and] directed at the president. You know, people talking about taking their country back. ... There's a certain racial component to this for some people. I don't think this is the thing that is a main driver, but for some there's a racial animus.
-- Eric Holder

#Country #Thinking #Talking

No individual or company, no matter how large or how profitable, is above the law.
-- Eric Holder

#Law #Matter #Individual

Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason.
-- Eric Holder

#Law #Long #Enforcement

People feel uncomfortable talking about racial issues out of fear that if they express things, they will be characterized in a way that's not fair. I think that there is still a need for a dialogue about things racial that we've not engaged in.
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #Issues #Talking

Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security.
-- Eric Holder

#Process #National Security #Judicial

It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States,
-- Eric Holder

#Military #Law #President

I think there are too many people in jail for too long and for not necessarily good reasons.
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #Jail #Long

There are a whole variety of reasons I want to be attorney general, a whole variety of things that I do as attorney general that go beyond national security.
-- Eric Holder

#Want #Reason #National Security

Good luck with your asparagus.
-- Eric Holder

#Good Luck #Luck #Asparagus

Some have argued that the President is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or associated forces. This is simply not accurate. 'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.
-- Eric Holder

#Senior #Leader #President

Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial.
-- Eric Holder

#Issues #Race #Average

Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not in some ways differ significantly from the country that existed almost 50 years ago. This is truly sad,
-- Eric Holder

#Country #Sunday #Years

Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards
-- Eric Holder

#Believe #Coward #Melting Pot

With all do respect, senator, I don't think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue. I'd be more than glad to come back in an appropriate setting to discuss the issues that you have raised.
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #Nsa #Issues

I don't have any intention of resigning.
-- Eric Holder

#Intention

I think that what I'm doing is right. And election-year politics, which intensifies everything, is not going to drive me off that course.
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #Years #Election

I'm not going to let people who work in the United States Department of Justice have their characters be assailed without any basis.
-- Eric Holder

#Character #People #Justice

When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened in Philadelphia--which was inappropriate, certainly that . . . to describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people,
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #Philadelphia #People

I'm a hard headed lawyer.
-- Eric Holder

#Lawyer

It's a sad indication of where Washington has come, where policy differences almost necessarily become questions of integrity. I came to Washington in the late '70s, and people had the ability in the past to have intense policy differences but didn't feel the need to question the other person's character.
-- Eric Holder

#Integrity #Character #Past

I'm a 21st-century guy, secure in who I am.
-- Eric Holder

#Who I Am #Guy #Century

One of the things I learned is that you've got to deal with the underlying social problems if you want to have an impact on crime - that it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction.
-- Eric Holder

#Dysfunction #Impact #Want

Operation Fast and Furious was flawed in concept and flawed in execution. The tactics used in this operation violate Department of Justice policy and should never have been used.
-- Eric Holder

#Justice #Execution #Tactics

It's hard for me to see how members of al Qaeda could be considered prisoners of war. I think they clearly do not fit within the prescriptions of the Geneva Convention.
-- Eric Holder

#War #Thinking #Als

[I] can't actually imagine a time in which the need for more diversity would ever cease. Affirmative action has been an issue since segregation practices. The question is not when does it end, but when does it begin [..] When do people of color truly get the benefits to which they are entitled?
-- Eric Holder

#Color #Practice #Issues

To those in the executive branch who say 'just trust us' when it comes to secret and warrantless surveillance of domestic communications, I say, 'Remember your history.'
-- Eric Holder

#Communication #Nsa #Secret

I look forward to working with the NRA to come up with ways in which we can use common sense approaches to reduce the level of violence that we see - in our streets, and make the American people as safe as they possibly can be.
-- Eric Holder

#People #Common Sense #Use

I don't even talk about whether or not racial profiling is legal. I just don't think racial profiling is a particularly good law enforcement tool.
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #Law #Enforcement

If you want to call me an activist attorney general, I will proudly accept that label,
-- Eric Holder

#Labels #Want #Accepting

We are not programmed to bury our kids.
-- Eric Holder

#Kids

It pains me whenever there's the death of a law enforcement official.
-- Eric Holder

#Pain #Law #Enforcement

I think that people, despite my law enforcement background, view me as taking these consistently progressive stands, and I think that, philosophically, there is a desire to get at that person. But I think the stands I have taken are totally consistent with a person who is looking at things realistically, factually.
-- Eric Holder

#Taken #Thinking #Views

You constantly hear about voter fraud... but you don't see huge amounts of vote fraud out there.
-- Eric Holder

#Voter Fraud #Voters #Vote

Any decision to use lethal force against a United States citizen - even one intent on murdering Americans and who has become an operational leader of al-Qaida in a foreign land - is among the gravest that government leaders can face.
-- Eric Holder

#Land #Government #Decision

The American people can be - and deserve to be - assured that actions taken in their defense are consistent with their values and their laws.
-- Eric Holder

#Taken #Law #People

The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.
-- Eric Holder

#Guarantees #Constitution #Process

One cannot understate the importance of eliminating Bin Laden. He was a symbolic head of the organisation and, as we now know, an operational head of the organisation.
-- Eric Holder

#Importance #Bin Laden #Organisation

I understand the Second Amendment. I respect the Second Amendment. I think we need to use common sense tools to keep the American people safe, to keep our streets safe.
-- Eric Holder

#Thinking #People #Common Sense

Guantanamo is a chief recruiting tool for al-Qaida. It has put a wedge between the United States and at least some of its allies.
-- Eric Holder

#Tools #Als #Allies

Let's deal with reality. The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom.
-- Eric Holder

#Reading #Reality #Rights