California hires former attorney general Eric Holder to fight Trump

(Image credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Should the California Legislature need help resisting "any attempts to roll back" the progress the state has made, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be there to serve as as an adviser and to offer outside counsel.

Legislative leaders announced Holder's new role on Wednesday. The progress the state wants to protect specifically revolves around health care, immigration issues, civil rights, and climate change, and "with the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead," California Senate leader Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said in a statement.

Democrats control the California governor's office and both houses in the state's Legislature, and when necessary, Holder, now a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling, will work with the state attorney general. His firm will also look at any changes to federal law and how they will affect California. Holder has been critical of President-elect Donald Trump, and in October called him "dangerous" for saying he would "order the DOJ/FBI to act on his command."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.