re: Did Holder's "I'm a black man" comments arguably violate Ethics rules?

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The AG heads the DOJ which has it's own ethics department and code.

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Can you prove that these exist by providing a link?

Or are you just making it up ?

Didn't you once claim to be a lawyer? And you can't even google.

LINK /

Welcome to the Departmental Ethics Office website. On this website you can find the various laws and regulations governing the conduct of Department of Justice employees. We have included general information on the Executive Branch Standards of Conduct, the conflict of interest statutes, the Department's supplemental standards of conduct and various other ethics rules, regulations and policies. We have organized the ethics rules by subject which you can access through the left navigation menu. A click on highlighted citations or phrases will provide you with more information.

The complete text of the Standards of Conduct and the Department's supplemental regulations can be found at 5 C.F.R. § 2635, 5 C.F.R. § 3801 and 28 C.F.R. § 45. The Office of Government Ethics’ website contains Executive Order 12731, which sets forth the Principles of Ethical Conduct for Government Officials and Employees.

The Departmental Ethics Office, located in the Justice Management Division, is responsible for administering the Department-wide ethics program and for implementing Department-wide policies on ethics issues. The office provides advice and training directly to employees in the Department’s Senior Management Offices, the Justice Management Division, the Office of Public Affairs, the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, the Office of Dispute Resolution, and the Office of Tribal Justice, and supervises the ethics programs in the remaining Department components. Each component has a Deputy Designated Agency Ethics Official who is responsible for administering the ethics program within his or her component.

Here is a list of ethics officials for each component.

We hope this website will assist ethics officials in managing their ethics programs. We also encourage employees to use the website as a source of information, but they should remember that certain rules are complex and require some analysis in applying them to specific situations. For this reason, employees should always seek the advice of an ethics official when contemplating any action that may be covered by the rules.

Allegations of misconduct involving Department attorneys that arise from their authority to investigate, litigate, or provide legal advice should be reported to the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.

Questions concerning professional responsibility issues such as the McDade amendment and contacts with represented parties should be directed to the Department's Professional Responsibility Advisory Office on (202) 514-0458.

Allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or misconduct by Department of Justice employees should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), whose contact information may be found on their web site.

If you have any questions or suggestions for the website, please feel free to contact the Departmental Ethics Office on (202) 514-8196.

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So, the American Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct don't apply to AG Holder?

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I don't think you understand what the ABA is.

The ABA is a voluntary professional organization. No attorney needs to be a member to practice. Their Rules of Professional Responsibilty are "Model Rules".

So to answer your question, no they don't apply to the AG or to any attorney as for as practicing law is concerned. They have no jurisdiction over the practice of law. They're equivalent to the AMA.

Thanks for your help, VB. I appreciate it. I did find that website before you linked it, and, I gave it a second read after you linked it. I read the CFR links that you provided from the DoJ website, and, I found nothing like the ABA Rules for Professional Conduct.

So, AG Eric Holder is not legally bound to honor the American Bar Association's Rules for Professional Conduct for attorneys. We can agree on that.

Should he honor those rules notwithstanding any binding or controlling legal authority?

And, could you answer this very relevant question:

Would a thoughtful, wise, competent AG who possesses good judgment make such extrajudicial comments?

I share your concerns, but, I know that there are some practicing attorneys who support Obama that post here. VB points out that Holder broke no law nor did he violate any binding or controlling legal authority concerning professional conduct when he made his comments.

I would like to ask VB and others to answer this simple question:

Would a thoughtful, wise, competent AG who possesses good judgment make such extrajudicial comments?

You can't ask that question without taking into consideration the factors involved. This is a 56 person police force with 53 white cops and 3 black cops in a town of 75% black people. You have nightly protests and cops in military gear and armaments. Having the AG and the president essentially say "I feel your pain" goes a lot towards quashing further violence than saying what this board is saying which is that MB and his friend are criminal thugs who got what they deserved and the people marching are thugs as well.

If you can't understand that, then in don't know what to tell you.

And btw, watching the rerun of Fox News Sunday, looks like the police chief and Karl Rove agree with me. His words helped.

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If you can't understand that, then in don't know what to tell you.

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Holder's words went a bit further than to say, "I feel your pain."

Did the words that he chose create any legal issues for the defense to exploit?

I take it, you approve of Holder's comments and the phrasing? Or is it fair to say that he could have chosen his words and phrases more wisely?

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Has nothing to do with AG vs Sen. Has to do with attempted connection to a community undergoing real or perceived racial trauma

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Wtf?!?

In your quest to not admit your error, you've dug your hole deeper.

Just admit what Karl Rove and what any sane person can see, Holder's words and attendance has led to a considerable reduction in violence and racial tension.

It really is ok to agree with a liberal on occasion. When you feel yourself slipping into the abyss of being a darkhorse or golden nugget or Katy, slap yourself.

There's no doubt that the racial temperature in Ferguson dropped a few degrees after Holder arrived. The way I see it is that Holder was saying to the community, "I'm a brotha and I'm not going to sell you out." Maybe those folks needed to hear those words to calm down, and wait for the criminal justice system to play out.

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In your quest to not admit your error, you've dug your hole deeper.

Just admit what Karl Rove and what any sane person can see, Holder's words and attendance has led to a considerable reduction in violence and racial tension.

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I don't know about that, but I do know it is what Holder would likely claim to have been going for with his "I'm a black man" comment.
Hence the "channeling of RFK."

Maybe you should read my post again.
It seems you assumed it to say something it didn't.