The left has forgotten all about their Obama era mantra that “elections matter” and they’re preparing to wage war on the new administration. Legislators in California have retained terrorist defense attorney and Obama’s former Attorney General Eric Holder to engage the Trump administration in the courtroom over any policy shifts they don’t like.

California Legislative Leaders on Hiring former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. and Covington & Burling https://t.co/M6AzItq7PY

— Senator Kevin de León (@CAptEmeritus) January 4, 2017

California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León released this statement today.

“With the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead.

“The Legislature will work with the Governor and our next Attorney General to protect California’s economy and our sensible policies on climate change, health care, civil rights and immigration.

“This is a critical moment in the history of our nation.  We have an obligation to defend the people who elected us and the policies and diversity that make California an example of what truly makes our nation great.

“To accomplish that we will assemble the best and brightest in defense of our values and constitutional guarantees, and towards that end, the Legislature has retained the services of an expert legal team from the nationally-renowned Covington & Burling law firm, led by former United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. Mr. Holder and his team will serve as outside counsel to the Legislature, advising us in our efforts to resist any attempts to roll back the progress California has made.”

I wrote yesterday about how Barack Obama is remaining in Washington to fight for his policies despite the fact that they’ve been rejected at the ballot box. One of President Obama’s many broken promises was that he would rein in lobbyists. Now he and his administration are in effect going to become lobbyists. NBC reports:

Democrats control both houses in California’s Legislature as well as the governor’s office. The left-leaning state, which went overwhelmingly for Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton, is poised to be at the forefront of legal battles with the GOP-led federal government.

…

Some California cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have been vocal about potential changes in federal immigration policy under Trump that could lead to mass deportations.

Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015, has been an outspoken critic of Trump.

In October, he called out then-candidate Trump’s threat to prosecute Clinton over her use of a private email server.
“Be afraid of any candidate who says he will order DOJ/FBI to act on his command,” Holder tweeted.

Be afraid of any candidate who says he will order DOJ/FBI to act on his command This is dangerous/so is @realDonaldTrump-he's not qualified

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) October 10, 2016

I don’t necessarily disagree with that statement, but I’m more afraid of a President who orders the DOJ/FBI—or the IRS—to act politically on his command without admitting it. Holder is only pretending he wasn’t taking commands from Obama about what to investigate or not investigate.

This refusal to accept the results of an election is not only hypocritical of the left after all their scaremongering about Trump not doing so, it’s dangerous.

Any Republican President’s authority over his own branch of government is diminished by the leftward tilt of the army of bureaucrats it employs. Many of them will undermine policies from within or at least drag their feet when it comes to implementing them. No one is really in charge of people he can’t fire and replace. If Obama and his cronies are going to be working in DC and left leaning states to thwart Trump and the GOP Congress’ agenda, they will find no shortage of foot soldiers loyal to the ousted regime.

It will be interesting to watch where other key Obama administration figures land in the coming days.