Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder stepped down saying his work at the Department of Justice over the last six years has significantly improved civil rights in America and, “help to craft a more perfect union.”
Holder said, “I come to this moment with very mixed emotions. Proud of what the men and women of the Department of Justice have accomplished over the last six years and, at the same time, very sad that I will not be a formal part. a formal part of the great things that this department and this president will have accomplished over the next two.”
“I want to thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity that you gave me to serve and for giving me the greatest honor of my professional life. We have been great colleagues, but the bonds between us are much deeper than that. In good times and in bad, in things personal and in things professional, you have been there for me. I’m proud to call you my friend.”
“I’m also grateful for the support you have given me and the department as we have made real the visions that you and I have always shared. I often think of those early talks between us, about how our belief that we might help to craft a more perfect union. What remains to be done is real over the last six years. And your administration has fought to protect the most sacred of the rights of Americans, the right to vote. We have begun to realize the promise of quality for our brothers and sisters and their families. We have begun to significantly reconnect those who bravely served in law enforcement with the communities that they protect. We have kept faith with our belief in the power of the greatest judicial system in the world has ever known, to fairly and effectively adjudicate any cases that are brought before it, including those that involve the security of the nation that we both love so dearly. We have taken steps to protect the environment and make more fair the rules that are commercial enterprises operate. And we have held accountable those who would harm the American people, either through violent means or the misuse of economic or political power. I have loved the Department of Justice ever since I was a young I watched Robert Kennedy prove during the civil rights movement how the department can and must always be a force for that which is right.”
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