“Attorney General Eric Holder’s stunning admission that it was difficult to prosecute large banks because of the potential economic impact may be a turning point of the drive to break them up.

“For years, lawmakers from both political parties have questioned why some institutions appear to be “too big to jail.” But in recent weeks, the issue has gained more prominence, particularly after Sen. Elizabeth Warren took center stage while grilling regulators on the issue last month.

“Holder’s remarks, in which he said it “does become difficult for us to prosecute them” because institutions have “become too large” hands those lawmakers some powerful ammunition that they are likely to use to shape the debate in the weeks, months and years ahead.

““It’s another glaring example that ‘too big to fail’ is alive and well,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who is co-authoring legislation to break up the big banks, in an interview. “If megabanks have a decided, quantifiable market advantage on the order of $83 billion a year, and if megabanks are so big the Justice Department, as enunciated today, will think twice and three and five and ten times about prosecuting them in a way they never would for other institutions, I think the American people’s reaction to that is, these banks are not just ‘too big to fail’ or ‘too big to prosecute’ — the bottom line is they’re just too big.””

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