Attorney General Eric Holder has just blown it.

It has just been reported that Attorney General Holder said that he “stands with the people of Ferguson” in a press conference in Washington after meeting with activists and officials of the riot-torn community.

The Attorney General of the United States is supposed to stand for the law—not with a crowd that has already made up its mind without an impartial hearing of the evidence in the shooting of Michael Brown, a black teen, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer.

I wrote an item earlier today (“Holder’s Challenge”) saying that Holder has a golden opportunity to stand up for the law and to prepare people to accept the legal verdict on the shooting of Michael Brown, whether that verdict is the one they want or another one. Holder’s job should have been to make sure that the investigation into the shooting is conducted with impartiality and the utmost integrity. He has failed utterly. He has taken sides. He has tipped the scales of justice.

Breitbart notes:

[T]he Attorney General did not discuss that the American system of justice is founded on the principle that all individuals are innocent until proven guilty.

He did say, however, “The Justice Department will continue to stand with Ferguson.”

Holder added, “We will continue the conversation this incident has sparked about the need for trust building between law enforcement officers and communities they serve.”

Rich or poor, black or white, we all benefit when we live in a country where the law is administered with justice and impartiality. Speaking as the nation’s first black Attorney General, Holder had an opportunity to say that to a crowd that has already made up its mind.

The “people of Ferguson,” moreover, have expanded to include notorious race opportunists such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and criminals who are in town solely for the looting. Is our top law enforcement officer proclaiming solidarity with Ferguson’s “looting tourists” over the rule of the law?

The best thing for the country—and this includes the people of Ferguson—is that the investigation of what happened the night Michael Brown was killed be thorough and fair and that the verdict ultimately rendered be just. But the nation’s top cop has just rendered his own verdict, and it was not a ringing endorsement of the rule of law.