Eric Holder says he wouldn't serve on the Supreme Court

Former Attorney General Eric Holder has returned to his old stomping grounds at Covington & Burling after more than six years with President Barack Obama’s administration.

Holder told the National Law Journal, in an interview published Monday, that this is the “last stop” of his career. He also ruled out the possibility of being nominated to the Supreme Court, saying that if Hillary Clinton were elected president and offered him a spot, he would politely decline.


“I’d say, ‘Madame President, with all due respect, you need to pick somebody who’s a) younger and b) who’s a lot more interested,’ ” Holder said.

Before joining the White House in 2009, Holder had been a partner at the firm since 2001.

Holder also said that he was “surprised” at how quickly public opinion changed around the Confederate flag issue in light of last month’s attack at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“I’m always kind of amused when I hear at least some people say that it’s about heritage. And then you think, well, the flag didn’t fly in South Carolina till 1961 or 1962, 100 years after the Civil War, so it wasn’t really about heritage then. It was about something a little darker,” Holder said.

Asked to explain why he decided to join Twitter now, Holder (@EricHolder) said he was “so affected” by the events in Charleston that he “just felt the need to express the feelings that I had.”

On the issue of criminal-justice reform, Holder said there is a moment for Congress to come together.

“I’m actually kind of satisfied with where we got. The job’s not done. You know, I think we did as much as we could using executive branch discretion, but now it’s up to Congress to put in place measures that will last beyond this administration,” he added. “We made a sea change from the policies that I inherited and consistent with kind of my own experience as just a line lawyer at the Justice Department for 12 years. Put more discretion in the hands of those line lawyers, who I have great respect for. But now Congress needs to act.”

As for how he’ll handle his new role, Holder joked about having to deal with some of the members of Congress who gave him a tough time while in office.

“I was looking forward to working with Louie Gohmert and Darrell Issa, those are the guys I was looking forward to working with,” he said, laughing.