In deciding that the measure is unconstitutional, lawyers in the department’s Office of Legal Counsel matched a conclusion reached by their Bush administration counterparts nearly two years ago, when a lawyer there testified that a similar bill would not withstand legal attack.

Holder rejected the advice and sought the opinion of the solicitor general’s office, where lawyers told him that they could defend the legislation if it were challenged after its enactment…

Holder’s decision to get involved may expose President Obama’s Justice Department to some of the same concerns raised by Democrats during George W. Bush’s presidency…

M. Edward Whelan III, who was a deputy at OLC during the Bush administration, said when informed of the matter that Holder’s decision to override the office’s conclusions amounted to a “blatant abuse” of the office’s purpose.