How much will guns and drugs come up during the Holder hearings?

Confirmation hearings for Attorney-General nominee Eric Holder are scheduled to start this Thursday, and there is reason to believe these hearings will be worth watching.  This new Politico piece, headined "GOP setting up roadblocks for Holder," indicates that topics other than the ugly Clinton clemencies will be on the agenda:

Senate Republicans have invited the son of man killed in a 1975 Puerto Rican nationalist bombing as well as a former FBI agent who investigated two violent groups supporting Puerto Rican independence to appear at Eric Holder’s confirmation hearings. A third GOP witness is a pro-gun rights attorney from Virginia....

Holder’s commitment -- or lack thereof -- to the rights of gun owners and the Second Amendment has also become a talking point for Republicans opposing his confirmation. On that issue, they’ve arranged for the committee to hear from Stephen P. Halbrook, an attorney in Alexandria who specializes in gun-rights cases. He has made numerous appearances before congressional panels to argue an expansive view of the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

In addition to the interesting possibility of post-Heller gun talk, this TalkLeft post also highlights that some groups are eager to have Holder questioned on drug policy issues, including medical marijuana.  But, Holder fans should not fret: as this CNN entry details, the Senator Patrick Leahy, who will preside over the Holder hearings, is continuing "his public campaign on Holder's behalf Tuesday by producing two prominent Republicans who back his confirmation."

Some prior posts on the Obama transition and the Holder pick:

• Headaches on the path to Holder's AG confirmation
• Real headaches or just hiccups on nominee Holder's path to AG?
• Any early federal sentencing thoughts on Eric Holder, the next U.S. Attorney General?
• Three late afternoon thoughts on the Holder pick: race, tough and tech
• President-Elect Obama officially names Eric Holder as his AG pick
• Pardons, politics, race and justice: why Holder should come out swinging
• Interesting reflections on Obama appointees from drug policy reformers