Eric Holder

United States Attorney General

• Born: January 21, 1951
• Birthplace: Bronx, New York

Holder became the first African American US deputy attorney general in 1997 and the first African American US attorney general in 2009. Both appointments made him the highest-ranking African American in law enforcement in US history.

Early Life

Eric Himpton Holder Jr. was born on January 21, 1951, to Miriam and Eric Himpton Holder Sr. in the Bronx, New York. Both of his parents' families had emigrated from Barbados, Miriam's before she was born and Eric Holder Sr.'s when he was eleven years old. Holder's father was a real estate agent, and his mother was a secretary. Holder was raised in a predominantly African American neighborhood in East Elmhurst, Queens.

Holder attended the public school in his neighborhood until the fourth grade, when he was selected for a program for students with high academic potential. He then attended the highly selective Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, where he became captain of the basketball team. After graduating in 1969 with a Regents' Scholarship, he entered Columbia College, where he was cocaptain of the basketball team, mentored local children at a Harlem Youth Center, and joined Concerned Black Men, a national organization committed to minority youths. He graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in American history in 1973 and from Columbia Law School with a juris doctor degree in 1976. During his summers at law school, he clerked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Department of Justice’s criminal division.

Upon graduation, Holder was hired by the Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. He joined the newly created Public Integrity Section, created in response to the Watergate incident during Richard Nixon’s presidency. As a lawyer in the Public Integrity Section, Holder dealt with many high-profile figures, such as South Carolina congressman John Jenrette, whom Holder helped prosecute in the infamous Abscam bribery case in the late 1970s.

Life’s Work

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan appointed Holder an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Holder had jurisdiction over a broad array of crimes, ranging from armed robbery and murder to failure to make child-support payments. In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Holder as US attorney for the District of Columbia. Congress confirmed the appointment both for Holder’s demonstrated sympathies for underprivileged persons in the area and his effectiveness as a justice official, making him the first African American to hold the position. One of Holder’s first responsibilities was to supervise a high-profile investigation of fraud in the House of Representatives Post Office involving Illinois Democrat Dan Rostenkowski. Although Rostenkowski was a fellow Democrat, Holder pursued the investigation with vigor, and the congressman was convicted in 1996.

Holder was known for having an easygoing manner that succeeded in neutralizing his opponents to some degree. In 1997, Clinton nominated him to the position of deputy attorney general, reporting directly to Attorney General Janet Reno. The Senate confirmed Holder’s appointment by a unanimous vote. Once again, he was the first African American to be appointed to the role.

As deputy attorney general, Holder created Lawyers for One America with the purpose of bringing greater diversity to the legal profession. He also advised Reno on the Justice Department’s Independent Counsel Statute as it related to the scandal involving Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. On Holder’s advice, Reno decided to grant permission for further investigation of the affair.

In 1999, Holder was involved in Clinton’s decision to grant clemency to sixteen arrested members of the Boricua Popular Army, a group the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deemed a terrorist organization. Holder also became known for his involvement in Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive financier who had been indicted on charges of tax fraud. The pardon occurred in 2001, just hours before Clinton left office, and resulted in a public outcry.

In 2001, upon completing his term as attorney general, Holder began to work in private practice at the law firm of Covington and Burling in Washington, DC, where he represented clients such as the National Football League in its investigation of quarterback Michael Vick. In 2004, Holder represented Chiquita Brands International in a negotiated settlement with the Justice Department over funds paid to a group the United States deemed a terrorist organization. Holder also briefly served as temporary acting attorney general under President George W. Bush until the appointment of Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Holder has been involved in various philanthropic organizations, serving on the boards of Columbia University, the Save the Children Foundation, and Concerned Black Men. In 2008, Holder spoke on behalf of gun-restriction enforcement, an issue about which he felt strongly. He advocated maintaining the handgun ban in Washington, DC. During Bush’s administration, Holder also opposed the operation of the controversial detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the PATRIOT Act; and the interrogation tactics of the National Security Agency’s surveillance program.

In 2007, Holder became a senior legal adviser in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. After Obama was elected, he nominated Holder for the position of US attorney general. On February 2, 2009, the Senate confirmed Holder as the first African American attorney general. Later that year, Holder advised Obama to release Bush administration memoranda that spelled out the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of waterboarding as a method of interrogation and the Justice Department’s approval of such widely denounced methods. Influenced by Holder’s outspoken support, Obama decided to release the memos.

In November of 2009, Holder announced that the government would try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other terrorism suspects in a New York City federal court instead of before a military tribunal. Because Shaikh Mohammed and the other defendants were accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Holder was criticized for allowing them the full panoply of rights that would be granted to them in a federal court. In 2010, Holder also drew criticism for opposing a strict Arizona immigration law, which he admitted to not reading in its entirety. He voiced concern that the law would lead to racial profiling.

In 2011, Congress and the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an investigation of a five-year sting operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that had resulted in the transport of more than two thousand guns from the United States into the possession of criminal organizations in Mexico. The guns were later linked to numerous killings, including the murders of two US federal agents. Holder was questioned regarding his knowledge of the operation, and the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena requiring him to turn over internal DOJ documents. When Holder refused to do so, the committee voted to hold him in contempt of Congress. It was the first time in US history that a sitting cabinet member had been so cited. The president exercised executive privilege in declining to prosecute Holder for the contempt charge, and in September 2012, the DOJ cleared him of any wrongdoing in the ATF operation.

Holder announced his resignation as attorney general in September 2014. He remained in the position until April 2015. Following his resignation, Holder returned to private practice and rejoined his previous law firm, Covington and Burlington. In 2017, he became the chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

In October 2018, Holder was one of several vocal critics of President Donald Trump—including CNN, former president Barack Obama, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton—who were sent packages that were suspected to contain bombs. The bombs did not detonate and Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc was later arrested in connection to the crime.

Significance

Holder was the first African American to serve as US attorney general, the nation’s highest-ranking law-enforcement official. During his career, he has handled a breadth of cases on the local, state, and federal levels. He has advocated for civil rights and restrictions on gun use and has been outspoken about the ills afflicting the African American community.

Personal Life

Holder married Sharon Malone, an obstetrician and gynecologist, in 1990. The couple have three children.

Bibliography

Alter, Jonathan. The Promise: President Obama, Year One. New York: Simon, 2010. Print.

Blumenthal, Sidney. The Clinton Wars. New York: Farrar, 2003. Print.

DeVries, Karl, Evan Perez, and Shimon Prokupecz. "'Act of Terror': Bombs Sent to CNN, Clintons, Obamas, Holder." CNN, 25 Oct. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/politics/bill-clinton-hillary-clinton-chappaqua/index.html. Accessed 22 May. 2019.

Gormley, Ken. The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.

Shear, Michael D. "Eric Holder Resigns, Setting Up Fight over Successor." New York Times. New York Times, 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Jan. 2015.

Weisman, Jonathan, and Charlie Savage. "House Finds Holder in Contempt over Inquiry on Guns." New York Times. New York Times, 28 June 2012. Web. 9 Jan. 2015.

Wolffe, Richard. Revival: The Struggle for Survival inside the Obama White House. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.