Tomorrow, Attorney General-designee Eric Holder will begin his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have a column coming out in the morning discussing Holder's nomination, but as a kind of preview, consider the witnesses that the Republican minority on the committee have called to testify: Joseph F. Connor, whose father was killed in 1975 by members of the Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN, and Richard “Rick” Hahn, a former FBI agent who has extensively investigated the FALN.
President Bill Clinton pardoned 16 members of the group in 1999, none of whom were convicted of murder and most of whom had already served long prison sentences -- around 19 years each -- after lobbying from Puerto Rican representatives and human rights groups, against the wishes of various law enforcement organizations, FALN victims, and many members of congress. Holder, as Deputy A.G., prepared an options memo for the President outlining various courses of action to take in response to the pardons request and seemed to favor the clemency though he did not take a stance directly opposing or supporting the decision; he did overrule subordinates who argued against the clemency appeal although he did not violate any normal procedures. The transition issued a statement on the topic:
Eric Holder carefully reviewed the FALN clemency request, weighed the positions of both sides, including law enforcement, and concluded that the sentences of up to 90 years imposed on these prisoners was disproportionate to other federal and state sentences. After reaching that conclusion, he directed his subordinates at the department to draft a memo outlining several options, including how such a commutation could be structured to reflect the seriousness of these crimes and to take account of the lengthy time the prisoners had already served.
It seems that with their witness choices, the Republicans are less interested in focusing on the Marc Rich pardon, or even the legal debate around the FALN pardon, but instead seek to center the discussion on the FALN itself in an attempt to raise the specter of Holder being "soft on terror." If that's the case, it's disappointing, but the Democrats have already prepared to rebut by calling Frances Fragos Townsend, a former counter-terrorism official in the Bush administration, to testify on behalf of Holder's nomination. It will be interesting to see how Holder responds to these queries tomorrow.
The third minority witness, Stephen P. Halbrook, is an attorney who supports a broad reading the of the 2nd Amendment and will apparently press on Holder's moderate but generally pro-gun control record.
-- Tim Fernholz
