Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus called for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation on Tuesday over the Associated Press phone records seizure scandal.

“Freedom of the press is an essential right in a free society,” Priebus said in a statement. “The First Amendment doesn’t request the federal government to respect it; it demands it. Attorney General Eric Holder, in permitting the Justice Department to issue secret subpoenas to spy on Associated Press reporters, has trampled on the First Amendment and failed in his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Because Attorney General Holder has so egregiously violated the public trust, the president should ask for his immediate resignation. If President Obama does not, the message will be unmistakable: The President of the United States believes his administration is above the Constitution and does not respect the role of a free press.”