Democratic leaders in California announced Wednesday they've hired an attorney to represent them in any legal battles with the federal government down the line.
The legislature didn't just pick any lawyer. They chose Eric Holder, who served as President Obama's attorney general.
He was the first black man to serve in that position and he held that post from 2009 through 2015.
For more on this hire, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke to Loyola Law School's Laurie Levinson.
On what Holder was known for as an Attorney General.
I think that Attorney General Holder would point to the fact that he was very involved in civil rights; Trying to deal with issues involving the police across the nation; environmental laws, immigration laws, the DACA laws, voting rights. Some of the key issues that the Obama administration wanted to have across the nation, the Attorney General was taking a lead on it.
On how rare a hire such as this is.
It's fairly rare but, frankly, we live in rather rare times. And they do often hire outside consultants. So the fact that it was a former attorney general of the United States, that's quite rare. But the fact that the need a consultant in these difficult times, I'm not surprised by it.
On what cases Holder and his firm, Covington and Burling, might take on for California's legislature.
First off, I'm not sure that they're going to bring cases. I think, rather, he's going to be involved in consulting with the legislature. As to what laws California can pass that will keep the federal government out of our back yard and will withstand challenges from the federal government. Now if there are lawsuits and enforcement actions by the federal government, we'll be ready to go by having a firm like Covington and Burling-- and it is absolutely the go-to firm-- available to defend those.
In terms of lawsuits to be brought by California, those are going to be ones where the legislature can point to what we call state's rights; That as a state, we're not bound by everything the federal government wants to do and we're ready to take actions to protect our rights.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.