Politics | Eric Holder Republicans Picking a Fight Over Holder Dems need one GOP vote to move AG pick out of committee By Gabriel Winant Posted Jan 9, 2009 10:45 AM CST Copied Marc Rich is shown in this Nov. 27, 2000, file photo in Switzerland. Holder's role in Rich's pardon is expected to attract scrutiny. (AP Photo/Urs Flueeler, file) Senate Republicans seem to have settled on attorney-general-designate Eric Holder as their main target for a tough confirmation hearing. Thanks to his liberal leanings and his role in the Clinton administration—especially the controversial 11th-hour Marc Rich pardon—Holder will get a grilling in the Judiciary Committee. Ranking Republican Arlen Specter tells the AP: “This guy has serious questions to answer. I'm not flexing political muscles.” Politico notes that because Joe Biden’s spot on Judiciary is empty, a party-line vote would produce a nine-nine tie. Committee chairman Pat Leahy is confident that the GOP is all talk, and serious Republicans will come around. Says Leahy, “It could be a nine-nine tie, but I’ve had (Republican) senators tell me privately that of course they’re going to vote for Eric Holder.” Read These Next A former NFL Pro Bowler has died at age 36. The penny is still with us, but the headache has already arrived. Major websites, apps affected by massive outage. The massive AWS failure exposed a big problem with the internet. Report an error