The Wall Street Journal has taken Attorney General Eric Holder to task over a “blatant case of political interference” regarding a bill currently before Congress.
The Democrat-backed bill would give the District of Columbia a vote in Congress. Earlier this year, attorneys at the Office of Legal Counsel wrote a memo stating that the bill is unconstitutional on the grounds that only states can be represented in Congress.
“Holder wasn’t pleased, so he asked lawyers at the Solicitor General’s office for a second opinion, which miraculously found that the D.C. bill is constitutional,” The Journal reported in an opinion piece on Thursday.
It is “extraordinary” for an Attorney General to overrule an Office of Legal Counsel opinion “that we’re told is rooted in Justice Department analysis going back to the JFK-LBJ administrations,” the Journal observed.
“It is also extraordinary for an AG to so blatantly politicize the Solicitor General’s office, which is the home of lawyers who argue cases before the Supreme Court. Imagine if [President George W. Bush’s Attorney General] Alberto Gonzales had tried that one.”
The D.C. bill has passed the Senate but is stalled in the House. Democrats are pushing the bill because it would give them another House vote and set the stage for two more Democratic Senators.
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