Eric Holder on Trump, the Supreme Court and Voting Rights

The former Attorney General discusses how voting rights laws and Supreme Court term limits could preserve American democracy.

Few people in the United States have more experience at the intersection of the rule of law and the world of politics than Eric Holder. 

As the U.S. Attorney General during the presidency of Barack Obama, Holder was responsible for applying the rule of law to cases that were politically charged, from immigration to counter-terrorism to same-sex marriage. And he landed in the middle of numerous political firestorms. 

Now, nearly a decade after his departure from office, Holder has his attention focused on another place where law and politics intersect: the ballot box. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Holder sits down with Crosscut managing editor Mark Baumgarten to discuss the numerous threats he sees to American democracy, including the right to vote, the belief that voters should be able to make an informed decision and the expectation that everyone's vote count. And whether he would have brought charges against former president Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels case. 

This conversation was recorded on May 6, 2023 at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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