In First Senate Remarks, US Sen. Roland Burris Backs Eric Holder for AG Post

Text of Sen. Roland Burris' floor remarks

M. President, with humility for an honor neither sought nor expected, I rise for the first time as a United States Senator.

At a time of great consequence for our country’s long march toward justice -- and the moral compass we call the Constitution that guides our path -- I rise in strong support of President Barack Obama’s nominee for the office of United States Attorney General, Eric Holder.

As we look toward the future, I begin with a few words about the past.

Back in the 1950s, there was a place in my home town of Centralia, Illinois, called the “Pig Wobble,” and it wasn’t hard to figure out why: Pig Wobble was the place where the horses, the cows, and yes, the pigs, from all the nearby farms, came to drink water.

It was also the place where the African American children came to swim in the summer time.

My friends and I swam in the Pig Wobble until the summer of my sixteenth birthday in 1953, when, after previous efforts to integrate the park swimming pool where only whites could swim failed, my dad finally had enough of his children swimming with the farm animals while the white children went off to the nice, clean neighborhood pool.

My dad and his minister who ran the local chapter of the NAACP determined that the time had come for black children to swim in the community pool.

They decided we would need an attorney to represent us. There were no black lawyers in Centralia, so my father traveled to Chicago seeking legal assistance, but no lawyer was interested in representing us.

He returned home and the following day went to East St. Louis and retained a black attorney to represent us.

When the pool opened on Memorial Day, my brother and I, along with 3 other boys, swam and integrated the pool without incident.

Later we were home celebrating our accomplishment, but when my dad returned home he was very upset. We questioned why, and he explained that the lawyer he hired did not show up. My father then said “if we as a race of people are going to accomplish anything, we need lawyers and elected officials who are responsible and responsive!”

From that conversation with my father when I was sixteen, I set a goal for myself that I would try in my life and career to be responsible and responsive to the cause of justice.

When President Obama nominated Eric Holder to be Attorney General of the United States, my father’s words came to mind. Eric Holder is the embodiment of what my father envisioned on that day.

Mr. Holder has been responsible and responsive his entire career.

He has been a leader in the long march toward justice – not just for African-Americans, but for all Americans who treasure our nation’s founding principles of freedom, equality and personal liberty.

Once confirmed, he will open the gates of Justice once again to the public interest, not the special interests; and to those who are concerned not with the expansion of power, but with the use of power for the common good.

The mission of the Department of Justice is to enforce the law, to ensure the public safety, to prevent crime, and to seek fair and impartial justice for all Americans.

Sadly, for the past eight years, the Department has not lived up to the promise of that sacred mission.

Americans, particularly those of us in the legal community, have seen the Justice Department sink further into corruption, cronyism, and gross mismanagement.

I have watched with particular despair as the federal initiative to fight violent crimes against women, a program similar to the one I enacted as Attorney General for the State of Illinois, was underfunded, politicized and largely abandoned.

M. President, we have the chance today to turn the page by confirming Eric Holder.

At a time when the Department of Justice has lost dozens of competent, effective career attorneys to Bush Administration politicization, it is long past time for an Attorney General who puts competence first.

At a time when the Civil Rights Division – long known as the “crown jewel” of the Justice Department – has seen its mission undermined and misdirected, it is time for an Attorney General who keeps justice blind and puts our Constitution first.

At a time when our moral authority in the world is threatened by the immoral acts that were sanctioned from the top, we need an Attorney General who puts civil liberties first.

At a time when the threat of terrorism continues to haunt us, we need an Attorney General who puts public safety first.

And at a time when the crimes of a Wall Street few have spoiled an economy for the Main Street many, we need an Attorney General who puts people first.

We can be certain that Eric Holder will do these things because he has spent his entire career building and broadening a deep well of public trust.

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Eric came to the Justice Department in 1976 to serve in the Attorney General’s Honors Program, where his focus was prosecuting corrupt officials at the local, state and federal levels.

In 1988, he was appointed by President Reagan as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where he presided over countless trials involving homicides and other violent crimes.

In 1993, President Clinton nominated Eric to become United States Attorney for the District of Columbia – the first African American to hold that post.

In that role, he created a Domestic Violence Unit, went after perpetrators of crime with an unmatched intensity, and worked hand in hand with communities to give the people a voice in law enforcement.

In 1997, President Clinton promoted Eric Holder to the position of Deputy Attorney General, where he went after crimes against children and cracked down on white collar crimes.

At every step along the way, Eric Holder has proven that there is no conflict between fighting crime and upholding civil liberties; that making America safer and more just can and must go hand in hand.

That is exactly what he will do as United States Attorney General.

M. President, it is the honor of a lifetime to rise from the desk that previously belonged to our President, Barack Obama, and before that, to another legend from the Land of Lincoln, Senator Paul Simon.

As long as this desk is in my care, I will try every day to honor those who served before me, and work to brighten the lives of every citizen of Illinois.

If you look back further through the years, this desk also belonged to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who, as United States Attorney General, breathed life into the flame of justice.

I know that Eric Holder will do the same in our time.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this outstanding nominee, and I thank the presiding officer and my colleagues for the opportunity to share my thoughts.

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