Black pastors want Eric Holder impeached

Attorney General Eric Holder should be impeached for refusing to enforce laws against same-sex marriage, charges a coalition of black pastors who are collecting the signatures of a million people who think likewise.

"The attorney general of the United States should be impeached over his repeated lawlessness in attempting to impose same-sex marriage through the nation," said Rev. Bill Owens, president of Coalition of African American Pastors.

"It's one thing to make a political argument that gay marriage should be the law, but it's quite another to take actions that ignore federal law, Supreme Court rulings and the constitutions of dozens of states that have specifically rejected the redefinition of marriage which the administration is trying to impose."

Holder and President Obama arbitrarily decided that the federal Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and refused to defend it, as the president's oath of office requires.

The homosexual-rights issue has become white-hot this week, with activists pressuring Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a state bill that would allow people to use their religious faith as a defense if they are, for example, sued for refusing to promote homosexuality through their business.

WND reported months earlier when Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, issued a statement to WND announcing that articles of impeachment were being assembled against Holder.

"Impeachable Offenses" is the first draft of the articles of impeachment and presents an indictment that goes well beyond today's headlines. Order it today at WND's Superstore.

"The pattern of disregard for the rule of law and refusal to be forthright has only continued," Olson said at that time. "The American people deserve answers and accountability. If the attorney general refuses to provide answers, then Congress must take action."

Olson 's cosponsors are Reps. Larry Buschon, R-Ind., Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, David Roe R-Tenn., Randy Weber, R-Texas, Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., Roger Williams, R-Texas, Ted Yoho, R-Fla., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas., Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Bill Flores, R-Texas, Mark Amodei, R-Nev., Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., Sam Johnson, R-Texas, Steve Stockman, R-Texas, Mike Conaway, R-Texas and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Cited as an example of Holder's malfeasance was the DOJ decision shortly after Obama's election to halt a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia.

Members of the organization were blocking an entrance to a polling place on Election Day 2008.

The case was all but won, awaiting only a judge's determination on the penalty, when officials suddenly withdrew their prosecution.

Olson blasted Holder's decision-making.

"For nearly five years, Attorney General Holder has systematically deceived Congress and destroyed the credibility of the Justice Department in the eyes of the American people," Olson said. "During his tenure, Mr. Holder refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious and the resulting death of a Border Patrol agent, refused to prosecute IRS officials who unlawfully disclosed private tax records to third party groups, and misled Congress about his involvement in the investigation of a journalist."

That intimidation case was on video:

Subsequently, Holder even discouraged state attorneys general from supporting their own states' same-sex marriage bans.

The black pastors said Holder's campaign to create same-sex marriage "despite federal law, rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, and state constitutional amendments to the contrary" is a problem for the nation.

"As much as President Obama and Attorney General Holder would like it to be otherwise, we live in a democracy – with government of, by, and for the people – not a monarchy ruled by a king issuing decrees from on high," Owens continued. "The citizens of several states who have voted overwhelmingly to preserve marriage have had their votes voided and thrown out by radical federal judges; and the Obama administration – in particular the Justice Department – has been shamefully complicit in this attack on the rights of those voters."

The pastors' coalition, which works to promote values of faith and family, is nonpartisan and nondenominational.

The members note states "have historically defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and the majority of states continue to do so. "

"Thirty states have in fact enacted constitutional amendments to this effect. Furthermore, still binding federal law contained in Section II of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) provides that no state shall be required to recognize same-sex 'marriages' performed in other states. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year in Windsor v. United States that the federal government must respect the role of states to define marriage."

However, Holder, the pastors said, "announced that the federal government will treat any 'married' same-sex couple as legally married even in states that define marriage as solely the union of a man and a woman."

"Holder has directed the government to extend provisions providing same-sex couples immunity from testifying against a 'spouse,' treatment as 'married' persons in bankruptcy court, 'spousal' visitation rights and compassionate release in the case of federal prison inmates, and federal death benefits," they said.

Owens said Holder "is a man so political in his zeal to redefine marriage that he is willing to run roughshod over the rulings of the Supreme Court, binding federal law and the United States Constitution along with the constitutions of a majority of states."

"Yet our leaders in Washington are letting him get away with his illegal conduct and doing nothing meaningful to hold him accountable," he said. "Our campaign to gather one million signatures of citizens calling for Holder's impeachment is intended to create a groundswell of support, giving congressional leadership the encouragement necessary to remove this dangerous ideologue from public office."

Holder earlier earned the disdain of Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, for his same-sex marriage campaign. Weber's response was the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014. He said the bill not only strengthens the remnants of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, but is based on the logic expressed in last year's Supreme Court decision on marriage.

"The Supreme Court basically said in their U.S. v. Windsor case that Congress didn't have the right to define marriage. It's up to the states," Weber said. "OK, well, now there's confusion because the different agencies are wanting to give federal same-sex benefits and they don't know whether to choose the law of the state of domicile or the laws of the state of celebration. My bill says you must act on the laws of domicile. This clarifies. This takes the ambiguity out of the Supreme Court's ruling."

WND columnist Eric Rush commented on the effort to impeach Holder, citing the scandals that have involved him: "Operation Fast and Furious gun-tracking scandal, his refusal to prosecute individuals involved in the Internal Revenue Services' targeting of conservative political nonprofit groups, his failure to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act and alleged false testimony regarding the Department of Justice investigating Fox News reporter James Rosen."

Rush said Holder "possesses the uncanny ability to make nearly everything he utters sound like a lie."

"During the now-familiar testimonies the attorney general has given before Congress, his seemingly annoyed deportment, confused countenance and screwing up of his face (as though there was something unpleasant fermenting in that small patch of fungus residing on his upper lip) just tended to engender suspicion. The tremulous timbre of his voice didn't help to mitigate this either, giving the impression that he was perpetually trying to worm his way out of something."

In a report in the Hill, Owens said, Holder "will go down in history as the worst attorney general."