01 December 2008

Obama Announces His Choice for U.S. Attorney General

Holder would be the first African American to hold highest U.S. legal job

Attorney General-designate Eric Holder, foreground, and President-elect Obama

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — President-elect Barack Obama has selected Eric Holder for the job of U.S. attorney general.

“Eric Holder has the talent and commitment to succeed as attorney general from his first day on the job, which is even more important in a transition that demands vigilance,” Obama said in a December 1 press conference in Chicago. “He has distinguished himself as a prosecutor, a judge and a senior official, and he is deeply familiar with the law enforcement challenges we face — from terrorism to counterintelligence; from white collar crime to public corruption.”

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Holder will be the first African-American attorney general. His father immigrated to the United States from Barbados, and he grew up in New York City.

As attorney general, Holder would head the U.S. Department of Justice, which enforces federal law and ensures public safety against crime and other threats. Along with prosecuting cases on behalf of the U.S. government, the department also oversees the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Holder is widely expected to take the lead in closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, where more than 200 individuals are being detained in the war on terror as illegal combatants.

Dealing with a large number of nonuniformed combatants fighting independent of any national authority and engaged in armed hostilities and terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries has posed a thorny set of legal problems for the United States. (See “Guantanamo Detainees Win Right to Challenge Their Detention.”)

In a November 14 interview with CBS, Obama restated his intention to shut down Guantanamo.  “I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that,” he said, adding that along with a firm stance against torture, the closure is “part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world.”

Holder served as deputy attorney general from 1997 to 2001 in the Clinton administration and is currently employed by the Washington-based law firm Covington & Burling.

He has also served as a senior legal adviser for the Obama campaign since late 2007 and co-chaired, along with Caroline Kennedy and James Johnson, the president-elect’s vice presidential selection committee.

Early in his career, Holder worked in the Justice Department’s public integrity section. In 1988, he was selected by former President Reagan to be an associate judge of the District of Columbia Superior Court, and went on to become the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in 1993.

For more information, see “The Future Cabinet: Justice.”

The text of Obama’s prepared remarks is available on America.gov.