Saxby Chambliss on Eric Holder and gun laws

Got this as a reply from Saxby (or the canned staff reply..lol)

Thank you for contacting me regarding the nomination of Eric Holder to become Attorney General under the Obama Administration. It is good to hear from you.



President Obama nominated Mr. Holder to be the Attorney General on December 1, 2008 and he was confirmed by the Senate on February 2, 2009. I believe the President deserves great deference in filling his Cabinet. While Mr. Holder and I have differences on policy and judicial theories, I supported Mr. Holder because of his great experience and because I believe he can competently fill the role for which he has been nominated. Mr. Holder has previously been unanimously confirmed to judicial positions by the United States Senate on three separate occasions. In 1988, he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to be associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Mr. Holder to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and in 1997, President Clinton nominated him to be Deputy Attorney General of the United States.



Although I continue to have concerns with some of Mr. Holder's policy views, particularly his view of the Second Amendment, after speaking with him, I am convinced he recognizes that the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, recognizing the Second Amendment right to be an individual right, to be the law of the land.



Moreover, I believe that if any changes will be made to our country's gun policies, they will be made by Congress or the court system, and not the Department of Justice. I also had serious concerns about the role Mr. Holder played in the pardons of Marc Rich and members of the FALN group when he was at the Department of Justice. These pardons have been nearly universally condemned by the entire legal community. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Holder fully recognized his mistakes in those pardons and stated if he had to do it again, he would have done things differently. I believe he will take that learning experience with him into his role as Attorney General.



I have closely scrutinized Mr. Holder's nomination by reviewing his testimony from the Judiciary Committee and personally questioning him. I believe Mr. Holder is qualified for the position of Attorney General. Again, although I do not agree with a number of the positions Mr. Holder has taken in the past, I believe that Presidents, including President Obama, should be given deference in filling their Cabinet.