Top 40 Eric Holder Quotes

I actually think that the dotting of the i’s and the crossing of the t’s is what separates the United States, the United Kingdom, our allies, from those who we are fighting.

Communities of color don’t understand what it means to be a police officer, the fear that police officers have in just being on the streets.

The responsibility of the attorney general is to change things and bring us closer to the ideals expressed in our founding documents.

I sit here as the first African-American attorney general, serving the first African-American President of the United States. And that has to show that we have made a great deal of progress. But there’s still more we have to travel along this road so we get to the place that is consistent with our founding ideals.

I’d like to continue being involved with issues that animated my time as attorney general – criminal-justice reform and civil rights especially. I don’t just want to give speeches; I’d like to involve myself in this work in a systematic way.

Any decision to use lethal force against a United States citizen – even one intent on murdering Americans and who has become an operational leader of al-Qaida in a foreign land – is among the gravest that government leaders can face.

I understand the Second Amendment. I respect the Second Amendment. I think we need to use common sense tools to keep the American people safe, to keep our streets safe.

I think one of the things that I don’t think people focus on is that there are some red states that have done some really innovative things when it comes to criminal justice reform, including on rehabilitation, reentry efforts. I think one of the things that we have seen in that regard is that you save money.

The threat has changed from simply worrying about foreigners coming here, to worrying about people in the United States, American citizens – raised here, born here, and who for whatever reason, have decided that they are going to become radicalized and take up arms against the nation in which they were born.

I was raised – professionally – in the Public Integrity Section. I started in 1976, stayed there for 12 years. It was formed after Watergate by then-head of the Criminal Division Dick Thornburgh, who ultimately became Attorney General.

In January 2013, I told the people in the Justice Department after the re-election that I wanted to focus on reforming the federal criminal justice system. I made an announcement in August of that year in San Francisco, when we rolled out the Smart on Crime initiative.

One of the things I learned is that you’ve got to deal with the underlying social problems if you want to have an impact on crime – that it’s not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction.

I am the attorney general of the United States, but I am also a black man.

History simmers beneath the surface in more communities than just Ferguson.

Guantanamo is a chief recruiting tool for al-Qaida. It has put a wedge between the United States and at least some of its allies.

Those who peacefully gather to express sympathy for the family of Michael Brown must have their rights respected at all times. And journalists must not be harassed or prevented from covering a story that needs to be told.

I don’t even talk about whether or not racial profiling is legal. I just don’t think racial profiling is a particularly good law enforcement tool.

I think that what I’m doing is right. And election-year politics, which intensifies everything, is not going to drive me off that course.

Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security.

The inability to pass reasonable gun safety laws after the Newtown massacre is something that weighs heavily on my mind.

Smart on Crime says if you commit violent crimes, you should go to jail, and go to jail for extended periods of time. For people who are engaged in non-violent crimes – any crimes, for that matter – we are looking for sentences that are proportionate to the conduct that you engaged in.

I think that people, despite my law enforcement background, view me as taking these consistently progressive stands, and I think that, philosophically, there is a desire to get at that person. But I think the stands I have taken are totally consistent with a person who is looking at things realistically, factually.

Enforcement priorities and arrest patterns must not lead to disparate treatment under the law, even if such treatment is unintended. And police forces should reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.

Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial.

Studies show that if people think that they are treated fairly by the police, that matters almost more than what the result is. If you get stopped for a traffic stop and feel that you are treated courteously and fairly, you are much more likely to accept the fact that you got a speeding ticket.

Any attorney general who is not an activist is not doing his or her job.

People feel uncomfortable talking about racial issues out of fear that if they express things, they will be characterized in a way that’s not fair. I think that there is still a need for a dialogue about things racial that we’ve not engaged in.

If I were attorney general in Kansas in 1953, I would not have defended a Kansas statute that put in place separate-but-equal facilities.

Although the attorney general is a part of the president’s team, you’re really separate and apart. You have a special responsibility as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. There has to be a distance that you keep – between this department and the White House.

Operation Fast and Furious was flawed in concept and flawed in execution. The tactics used in this operation violate Department of Justice policy and should never have been used.

One cannot understate the importance of eliminating Bin Laden. He was a symbolic head of the organisation and, as we now know, an operational head of the organisation.

In a lot of ways, civil rights division is the conscience of the Justice Department. You can almost measure what kind of Justice Department you have by what kind of civil rights division that you have.

If you want to call me an activist attorney general, I will proudly accept that label.

The American people can be – and deserve to be – assured that actions taken in their defense are consistent with their values and their laws.

It is the thing that keeps me up at night – the notion that you have individuals in the United States who are looking at computer screens and who are becoming radicalized.

It’s a sad indication of where Washington has come, where policy differences almost necessarily become questions of integrity. I came to Washington in the late ’70s, and people had the ability in the past to have intense policy differences but didn’t feel the need to question the other person’s character.

I look forward to working with the NRA to come up with ways in which we can use common sense approaches to reduce the level of violence that we see – in our streets, and make the American people as safe as they possibly can be.

Michael Brown’s tragic death has revealed a deep distrust between some in the Ferguson community and its police force. It also developed a need to develop and widely disseminate law enforcement best practices for responding to public demonstrations.

I urge the citizens of Ferguson who have been peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights to join with law enforcement in condemning the actions of looters, vandals and others seeking to inflame tensions and sow discord.

I don’t have any intention of resigning.