New York, NY — This week, Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), delivered remarks at New York University’s School of Law as its Annual Law Survey dedicated its 82nd volume to his career and accomplishments. 

In the speech, Attorney General Holder reflected on the extraordinary danger American democracy faces today and warned that our nation is going through a generational regression marked by misinformation, injustice, and attacks on the rule of law. He reflected on several moments in 1963 that serve as a guidepost for the American people in this moment. Echoing Thomas Paine, Attorney General Holder affirmed that the hardest battles bring the most meaningful triumphs, and called on citizens to lead with conviction and join the fight to protect democracy.

The full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below: 

The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.

82nd Attorney General of the United States

Annual Survey of American Law Dedication

New York University School of Law

Remarks As Prepared For Delivery

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Good afternoon, everyone—it is such a pleasure and an honor to be here.

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Sally, Vanita, Jim, and John for their gracious words.  You all are remarkable colleagues and public servants, and I am deeply proud to call you my friends. I am blessed to have you in my life. Thank you for all that you have done—and will do—for the nation. 

On this day of celebration and joy we must confront the fact, the reality, that our great country is going through a generational regression. Misinformation, disinformation, and injustice loom over society like a dark cloud. The rule of law and fundamental fairness are at risk. Governing norms have been needlessly cast aside. Compassion in our government is in short supply. In this time of maximum danger to our country, all who love America most dearly must stand up and speak out for the principles that, at our best, define the nation.

I urge you to join me in reflecting on our role as lawyers in America, to revisit our Nation’s true—sometimes painful—history as a means to understand our present and ultimately to chart a course for a more promising, more inclusive future.  

Our profession, much of our life’s work, and the very institutions in which we operate have profound impacts on our fellow citizens—of all ages, races, and backgrounds—who are not always invited to have a seat at our table where important decisions are made. The course of many of their lives will be decided by those in our profession. It is an extraordinary responsibility. It is a power we must use wisely.  

Yet, we live in a time where the reliance on real facts and accurate history to generate meaningful policy and measurable change has been diminished and demeaned. We are faced with hopelessly and needlessly polarized positions on issues that should instead invoke our community compassion, our common humanity, and our moral sense as a nation. The rule of law is being ignored to drive a dangerous and fundamentally un-American political agenda. The progress we have made as a nation—long sought and long fought for—is being dismantled right before our very eyes.  It is seemingly—but not truly—overwhelming for even the most tenacious among us.

As I stand before you this April day, I am reminded of a different day from another time—hallowed by sacrifice and shaped by a turbulent era. A day that on a number of levels is personally meaningful to me. 

On June 11, 1963, the Deputy Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbach, peacefully escorted James Hood and my late sister in law Vivian Malone onto campus at the University of Alabama.  We all know the backstory: Alabama Governor George Wallace had rejected all efforts to integrate the University, ultimately staging his infamous “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door.” After a prolonged struggle, they were finally enrolled. And, in the Oval Office that June night,  President John F. Kennedy prepared to address the nation.

When the American people tuned in that night, they witnessed something extraordinary and courageous: the President of the United States speaking forcefully—from the heart and, at significant times, extemporaneously—about what he described as both “a domestic crisis” that transcended politics and “a moral issue” that is “as old as the scriptures and […] as clear as the American Constitution.”

Every single word rang with conviction and moral clarity, making the case and pointing the way toward what would become the signature achievements of the Civil Rights Era and the foundation of modern America. And though it focused primarily on one issue, it brings to mind a way of looking at our nation today and the unresolved racial, ethnic and class problems that continue to divide us.

Now, as I look around this crowd, I realize that not everyone here was alive in 1963.  But I can assure you that those of us who lived through that consequential year will never forget it.  

From Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, in May; to the iconic “Strategy for Peace” that President Kennedy described at American University, just one day before his televised address on civil rights; to his inspiring trip to Berlin later that same month; from the March on Washington in August; to the four young black girls murdered as a result of the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, in September; to that dark November assassination day in Dallas that forever changed the fabric of this nation—1963 was a year of hard-won triumph and unimaginable tragedy—a year of exhilarating highs and existential lows.  

The story of 1963 is not just the story of the Kennedy era, but a microcosm of the American experiment itself: a nation founded on dissent and forged through revolution, born of competing and contradictory visions for how we could govern ourselves, what we would stand for, which voices would be heard and who we, as a people, might aspire to become. And it demonstrates that we have been through difficult times before. 

Still, as much as June 11, 1963 revealed much about the man in the Oval Office, it reveals even more about the nation that elected him. And I say reveals in the present tense, because it’s hard not to feel—even 60 years later—that that moment in history is in direct conversation with our own. “Those who do nothing,” President Kennedy told the American people that night, “are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality.”

In themselves, on their own, days like June 11th do not change the shape of our society. At least not overnight. But out of that day grew legislation that transformed the nation.

It is in these extraordinary moments—these complex and contradictory chapters in the life of our nation—and through the work of ordinary yet extraordinary people that America’s character is revealed, and our future determined.  

And so, this gathering today is not just a recognition of past achievements; it is, like June 11, 1963, also a call to consequential action and the realization that we are still the masters of our own fate. We are the guardians of a nation worthy of our protection.  But always remember: positive change does not just happen—it is the result of hard work by committed people like yourselves. Our success against the dark forces in this time will not be a function of timidity, fear nor cowardice. Nor will it be a result of resignation, appeasement or capitulation—by people, professions or institutions. 

An energized American citizenry is a mighty force capable of making real, substantial, and lasting change. History has repeatedly shown us this. So, be engaged. Be impatient. Do not resign yourself to defeat. Do not bow down. Lead. 

Every generation of Americans is ultimately called upon to defend democracy, to bring our nation closer to its founding ideals. Now it is our time. It is only now, when the times are toughest, that we are truly tested. Rest assured that we, like those before us, are up to this test.  The tasks before us will not be easily accomplished. In the first year of our independence Tom Paine said, “tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”

Thank you again for this humbling recognition. Let us commit ourselves in this trying time to our cause—and to one another. I will treasure this day always and use it as a reminder that my commitment and belief—and yours—must never flag.

###