Gwen Ifill Questions Holder on Torture, Supreme Court, and Dick Cheney

It might have been a casual luncheon, but that didn’t make the questions any less probing.

In a wide-ranging dialogue hosted by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund at the National Press Club this afternoon, Gwen Ifill, the moderator and editor of PBS’s Washington Week, questioned Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. on a number of issues facing the Justice Department, including the Supreme Court, torture memos, and what he thinks of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent media blitz.

“I respect the man for his service to the country and the fact that he’s a patriot, but he’s dead wrong,” says Holder, referring to Cheney’s assertion that releasing previously classified torture memos put the country in danger.

Holder told Ifill that he thinks the nation is actually safer as a result of the memos being released because it shows that the country is no longer going to use techniques that he says are torture. “I think that you can get information that you seek from people who are prisoners, detainees, whatever, by using less intrusive methods,” Holder says. “I mean, we hear about the ticking time bomb example. And you work, I think, under a false assumption, a false premise that torture will result in the receipt of good, useful information.”

He added that he still doesn’t think the department should prosecute those who acted on the guidance of torture memos, though he declined to rule out prosecutions for those who drafted them. “We’ll go wherever the facts and the law take us,” he says.

Ifill asked Holder whether his recent trip to Europe had turned up any nations willing to accept Guantanamo Bay detainees. Holder responded that no decisions have been made yet, but an overall process is coming together. He says the department is still reviewing the cases of the some 240 detainees currently held at the prison and looking for ways to protect their rights while also protecting the American people's safety.

Speaking as the nation’s first African-American attorney general, Holder says the country still has a way to go in regard to civil rights. “The fact that I’m sitting here as an African American, much like the 44th president, shows that we’ve made progress. But we’re not there yet,” he says.

He says race is still an issue in America, and the country needs to reach a certain level of comfort in discussing the topic, echoing a speech he gave in February in which he called the U.S. a “nation of cowards” when it comes to talking about racial issues. That speech was criticized by some as going a bit far in making its point.

In hindsight, Holder says, he might have used slightly different language. But then again, maybe not. “The speech wouldn’t have gotten the attention it did, if I didn’t use those three words. I’m of mixed emotions about it,” Holder says. “I wish people would look at the whole speech in its entirety and the need for a dialogue on race.”

Ifill then turned the topic to the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by Justice David Souter’s announced retirement. “So what do you know?” Ifill asked Holder.

Holder dodged naming names, but he says he agrees with President Barack Obama that whoever the next justice is needs to show “empathy.” Obama’s empathy comment has been accused by critics on the right of being code for judicial activism. Holder disagreed, saying that a justice should show an understanding that what they do on the high court “affects the lives of every day Americans.”

“They need to understand that the Constitution is a living, breathing document that couldn’t envision what is happening now 200 years ago,” he says.

Comments

[makaainana]

Mr. Holder justice is supposed to be swift, impartial and blind.

It is not justice when politicians, and others start to speculate on the consequences of allowing justice to proceed, and then, using those real or imagined consequences stop justice from proceeding.

John Adams said, "All our Calamities have originated in the cruel, rapacious Breasts of some of our own Countrymen."

Lets hope the solutions (justice) can originate there too!!!

Sir???

[Jim Rogers]

I always find it interesting when people suggest that Souter's replacement needs to be someone who sticks to the "strict meaning of the Constitution" rather than someone who "legislates from the bench." Right wing conservatives believe that any moderate or progressive interpretation of language in the Constitution runs afoul of what the Founding Fathers intended. Frankly, I don't know where they get such an idea. A study of the Federalist Papers would lead one to believe that the Constitution is and always has been a living document meant to be debated and re-interpreted as times require.

[Karol Jo Kappel]

Holder has good insight and knowledge. I admire his variety of comments on issues and would hopw that comments would reach all of the aspects of the questioning of him by the reporter.
We are fortuniate for him there.

[Joe Geshel]

Justice Souter has been anything but a good justice. He has consistently been of a mind to change the wording and thereby the meaning of any clause in the Constitution. It will be nice to see him gone. However, his replacement will have to improve in understanding the words written in the Constitution rather what he would like to have seen there. Obama's choice will most likely be the same or worse. Let us pray that his choice fools Obama just as Souter fooled the Republicans.

[Chuck]

I was "Just following orders" should not be applied here, or at anytime. What's that quote about all good men of conscience again ??! Can we have an Historic moment in Justice in the USA for once ? Have you ANY idea of the overwhelming corruption that rules every facet of your Republic ?

[Phil]

I'm also encouraged by Holder's use of the term "living breathing document", because this is exactly what the ultra-conservatives on the court like Scalia so often ridicule. I think we'll get a good replacement for Souter.

[karela]

I'm very pleased with both Holder and Obama so far as well as with Hillary Clinton and many others on Obama's team. I think they're doing the job. Muchos Gracias.