Eleanor Holmes Norton: “I thank the gentlelady, first, for yielding and for her kind words. But I thank her even more for what she's done this…”

“I thank the gentlelady, first, for yielding and for her kind words. But I thank her even more for what she's done this afternoon. She has come to the floor--my good friend from Texas-- and has rendered one of the most informative highlights of the career of this Attorney General since he has held the office. I would like only a few minutes to say a few words about the Attorney General because he began when in the Clinton administration I got the courtesy that's normally given to Senators--we have no Senators--so I got the courtesy of recommending to the President the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and District Court judges. Although the District of Columbia has long had a large African American population, for most of its 200 years there have been no African American United States attorneys. Even though the United States attorney in the District of Columbia handles not only what he does for, for example, my good friend in Texas, that is Federal matters, but because there are some limits on our home rule, also handles all of the local criminal matters. Using a 17-member distinguished committee of citizens who vetted a great number of candidates and gave to me the top three, I chose the man who is now Attorney General as the first African American U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. He acquitted himself so well that he became an assistant Attorney General and finally Attorney General of the United States.…”