In fundraising letter, Streisand backs Holder confirmation.

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder Jr. has enjoyed support during his confirmation process from civil rights organizations, law enforcement, and even prominent Republican lawyers.

Add one more name to the list: singer and actress Barbra Streisand.
Streisand, an active and proud liberal, lent her name to an e-mail sent today to supporters of People for the American Way. In the e-mail, she praises Holder’s experience as a judge, prosecutor, and deputy attorney general, and she criticizes Senate Republicans for throwing obstacles in Holder’s path.

“I am fearful that this Republican opposition is really about pushing back on the Obama administration and testing the waters for future judicial confirmation fights,” the e-mail reads. “This is typical Washington partisan politics at a time when our nation needs to join together to solve the crises confronting America. Disturbingly, a good man is caught in the middle of these partisan tactics, someone who will be an excellent Attorney General for all Americans.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Holder’s nomination Wednesday.

Marge Tabankin, director of The Streisand Foundation, tells Legal Times that Holder and Streisand first met in the late 1990s when Holder was the No. 2 official at the Justice Department. Holder was in California on business, and a mutual friend arranged a dinner for people interested in meeting Holder.

“While they’re not close friends or anything, she was very impressed, thought he was really smart, and was really excited when he was nominated for attorney general,” Tabankin says.

Streisand’s support for Holder grows out of her interest in civil liberties, Tabankin says. Streisand has expressed particular concern about the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding and about the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, posting articles on the subjects on her official Web site.

The e-mail came about after a conference call that People for the American Way held last week. The liberal advocacy group wanted people to speak out on Holder’s behalf, and Tabankin passed word to Streisand, who is a longtime member of People for the American Way. “The minute she heard, she said, ‘Absolutely,’” Tabankin says.

The e-mail asks supporters to donate toward Holder’s cause and to sign a petition to support him.
Read on.