On the nomination of Mr. Holder, President-elect Obama chose not to seek my advice or even to give me advance notice in my capacity as Ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which is his prerogative. Had he done so, I could have given him some facts about Mr. Holder’s background that he might not have known.

Specter’s big worry: That Holder could be as rotten at the top of DOJ as Alberto Gonzales.

After our recent experience with Attorney General Gonzales, it is imperative that the Attorney General undertake and effectuate that responsibility of independence.  Mr. Gonzales left office accused of politicizing the Justice Department, failing to restrain Executive overreaching, and being less than forthcoming with Congress … I am convinced that many of Attorney General Gonzales’ missteps were caused by his eagerness to please the White House. Similarly, when Mr. Holder was serving as DAG to President Clinton, some of his actions raised concerns about his ability to maintain his independence from the president.

Specter alleges that “serious questions” were raised about Holder’s “candor” during the Marc Rich hearings, and that Holder may have been responsible for “deviation from normal pardon procedures.” In some of the cases, Specter talked about, Holder “appear[ed] to be serving the interest of his superiors.  There is an underlying issue about Mr. Holder not following the recommendations of career attorneys.” His conclusion:

I am prepared to give Mr. Holder a full opportunity to explain his past actions and convince the Committee and the Senate that his record warrants confirmation.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) couldn’t have written fainter praise.

WASHINGTON — Alberto Gonzales, who has kept a low profile since resigning as attorney general nearly 16 months ago, said he is writing a book to set the record straight about his controversial tenure as a senior official in the Bush administration.

It’s a miracle! Though he has not yet found a publisher, Gonzales has found a cure for the debilitating, buffoonish strain of amnesia he contracted while hard at work overseeing the politicization of the Justice Department and drafting memos to justify torture (his role in which, according to the Journal, Gonzales now downplays).

It’s called unemployment.

The Harvard Law School graduate, onetime corporate lawyer and Texas judge also hasn’t been able to land a job. He has delivered a few paid speeches, done some mediation work and plans to do some arbitration, but said law firms have been “skittish” about hiring him.

Gee, I can’t imagine why.

One has to wonder how much Gonzales can really say about his various controversies without possibly opening himself up to perjury charges after he denied having any recollection of much of his tenure as attorney general during congressional hearings. He is a lawyer, after all, so we can probably expect another boring, self-serving book.

Also worth noting: During his interview with the Journal, Gonzales took the opportunity to pity himself.

Mr. Gonzales said that “for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror.”

If so, that’s probably one casualty we can all live with.