GOP takes issue with Holder's signing of terrorism-related legal brief in '04

Senate Republicans attacked the attorney general Thursday for failing to disclose during his confirmation process last year that he had signed a 2004 legal brief in an important terrorism case.

The GOP lawmakers signaled that the mistake will be one focus of their aggressive questioning of Eric H. Holder Jr. at an oversight hearing March 23 that is expected to highlight his handling of detainee policy and national security threats.

In recent weeks, critics in Congress have seized on missteps to raise questions about the Justice Department''s approach to counterterrorism. Among their biggest targets is the possible White House reversal of Holder's decision to try accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged conspirators in a New York civilian court.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the Judiciary Committee's ranking GOP member, said he was "deeply concerned" about Holder's participation in a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of accused terrorist Jose Padilla.

"This is an extremely serious matter and the Attorney General will have to address it," Sessions said in a statement.

Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), a high-ranking member of the GOP leadership, raised questions Thursday about whether such a document could have been forgotten by Holder and the team that vetted him in 2009 for the nation's highest law enforcement office.

The legal brief had been signed by former attorney general Janet Reno, former deputy attorney general Philip Heymann, former principal deputy attorney general Robert S. Litt and other Clinton-era officials. It exhorted the Supreme Court not to uphold Padilla's indefinite detention on allegations that he had ties to al-Qaeda. Padilla ultimately was convicted of other offenses and sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.

Justice Department officials acknowledged the oversight Thursday at the same time they said Holder's views on indefinite detention of terrorism suspects had been addressed in congressional testimony and other materials submitted as part of his confirmation.

"The brief should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process," Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "In preparing thousands of pages for submission, it was unfortunately and inadvertently missed. In any event, the attorney general has publicly discussed his positions on detention policy on many occasions, including at his confirmation hearing."

Miller added: "As the brief noted and as the attorney general has said many times publicly, the government has ample lawful ability to detain and interrogate terrorists and disrupt attacks without resorting to making claims of executive power that strain the Constitution. This nation has always been at its strongest when it has properly balanced executive authority with appropriate congressional and judicial oversight."