That appointment made Becerra one of the highest-ranking Latino officials in this state, and he is expected to be instrumental in battling with the Trump White House over any attempt to enforce stringent measures aimed at immigrants. Brown has made clear that he intends to challenge the administration on global warming and that his attorney general will be a key to that battle.
The Democratic Party controls two-thirds of both the Assembly and the Senate in California. Every statewide elected official is a Democrat.
Holder was Obama’s attorney general from 2009 to 2015. He was the first African-American to hold that position. He is a partner at Covington & Burling, a law firm in Washington that specializes in representing states and companies against the federal government.
In accepting the hiring of his services, Holder said in an official statement that he is honored that the Legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal adviser as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact California’s residents and policy priorities.
He said that he is confident that his law office’s expertise across a wide array of federal legal and regulatory issues will be a great resource to the Legislature. Unfortunately, it was only this month when reports came out that he was charging the state an exorbitant fee for his legal services.