Eric Holder is at it again.
Not satisfied with his role in the disastrous and illegal Fast & Furious, Attorney General Holder has compounded his errors in that scandal by choosing what laws to defend (or break) throughout his time as the nation's top legal person.
Now, Huffington Post reports Holder is telling state Attorney Generals to follow in his illegal footsteps and ignore state laws on same-sex “marriage.” He also compared defending the Defense of Marriage Act to defending segregation laws in the 1950s.
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing oversight hearing on the Justice Department. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Fortunately, at least two state Attorney Generals are standing firm:
"When legal arguments exist to defend a law, it is the duty of the Office of the Attorney General under North Carolina law to make those arguments in court regardless of whether I agree with the law," said North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (D), who personally supports same-sex marriage.“It really isn’t [Holder's] job to give us advice on defending our constitutions any more than it’s our role to give him advice on how to do his job,” Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R) told the Times. “We are the ultimate defenders of our state constitutions.”
Arkansas' Democratic Attorney General has said in the past that he will defend his state's marriage laws, even though he personally disagrees with them. This principled stand for the rule of law is in direct contrast to the many state Democratic Attorney Generals who are choosing personal preference over the law, including Virginia's brand-new Attorney General, Mark Herring.
Republicans in Congress must do whatever they can to impeach Holder and otherwise hold him accountable. Not only is the nation's top legal voice choosing what laws to break, uphold, and/or invent, he is now advising others to violate their oaths of office to uphold state constitutions and laws.
Plastic figurines depicting a female couple and a male couple, displayed on a table, at the Gay marriage fair, in Paris, Saturday, April 27, 2013. Credit: AP
Are all laws just? Absolutely not. But regardless of whether Holder or any other Attorney General supports same-sex “marriage,” it is definitely not their job to pick and choose what laws to defend. Otherwise, the rule of law means nothing, and anarchy will fill the gap.
Furthermore, it sets a terrible precedent among the political parties. After all, what is to stop the next Republican Attorney General from not upholding parts of the Affordable Care Act, or any abortion laws? Democrats would, of course, oppose any Attorney General who did this.
Holder had already said he will leave his office this year. It looks like he's intent on doing as much damage to the nation as possible before he bows out. Republicans should make sure he feels the consequences of that damage in order to protect the nation from this lawbreaking hypocrite.
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