Key Senators Receptive To Holder As AG

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

From NPR News, this is All Things Considered. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block. First this hour, the post-election politics of a future Obama administration. The man who appears to be the president-elect's choice to head the Justice Department is getting good reviews where it counts: in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Today, even some of its most conservative Republicans reacted favorably to the prospect of Eric Holder as attorney general. If confirmed, Holder would become the nation's first African-American to hold the post. As NPR's David Welna reports, those Republicans also made clear that Holder has some questions to answer if he wants their vote.

DAVID WELNA: When Eric Holder last underwent a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it was 11 years ago, and he was President Clinton's nominee for deputy attorney general. And unlike the solidly Democratic panel Holder would face in the next Congress, the committee that unanimously approved him for the number two spot at Justice was dominated by Republicans. At the time, Texas Republican John Cornyn was still a justice on his state's Supreme Court. Cornyn's now on the judiciary panel and this conservative, close ally of President Bush says he looks forward to a Holder confirmation hearing.

Senator JOHN CORNYN (Republican, Texas): My impression of him is actually pretty good, but I need to learn more about him.

WELNA: Another Judiciary Committee Republican, Utah's Orrin Hatch, is much more familiar with Holder, having vetted him and then confirmed him to be deputy attorney general.

Senator ORRIN HATCH (Republican, Utah): My experience with Eric Holder is one of respect and decency. I like Eric Holder.

WELNA: Hatch expects Holder will face questions about how much cooperation he'd give the Judiciary Committee in its oversight of the Justice Department, since it's been a sore point for the panel with all three of President Bush's attorneys general.

Senator HATCH: I think Eric Holder will realize that, you know, there's a limit to what can be asked for up here. But there are things that can be asked for, and I think to that degree he's capable, yeah, he should be able to do whatever he wants to.

WELNA: There will also likely be questions for Holder about whether he'd open a Justice Department probe into the interrogation practices and detention policies of the Bush administration. Dick Durban, an Illinois Democrat who's very close to President elect Obama, says he intends to ask Holder if he'll carry out such an investigation.

Senator DICK DURBAN (Democrat, Illinois): I want to put a good attorney general in place and a good team in the Department of Justice. I want to change the ethic of that department after eight years, which I think has, unfortunately, not been the best. And I really believe there should be accountability for things that have happened. I hope that the Obama administration will tackle that as quickly as they can.

WELNA: Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions is equally fervent in his opposition to such a Justice Department probe.

Senator JEFF SESSIONS (Republican, Alabama): I think it could be highly dangerous to prosecute Americans who were trying to serve their country for things that they had legal support for doing. And I'm just - if we're getting in to that kind of thing, this is like some third-world dictator where you put your enemies in jail after you've become leader.

WELNA: Sessions does say he likes Holder and has had good dealings with him. Still, he has questions about Holder having signed off on the pardon President Clinton gave fugitive financier Marc Rich just before leaving the White House.

Senator SESSIONS: Thousands of people seeking pardons, a hundred times more deserving were denied pardons, and this Rich so-and-so crook got his pardon. It was unjustifiable. It was an injustice of a major proportion. I haven't forgotten that.

WELNA: But the Marc Rich episode, for which Holder has apologized, may not be such a big issue for other Republicans. Utah's Hatch says he won't hold it against Holder. Many battles have been fought over attorney general nominations, but Eric Holder's familiar face and track record already seem to have won him crucial support. David Welna, NPR News, The Capitol.

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