Eric Holder. It was the Attorney General of the United States since February of 2009 . He was already Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1997 to 2001 and legal advisor to Barack Obama during his campaign for the presidency. The 18 of November of 2008 agreed to be the future Attorney General of the United States from 2009 with the Obama administration in the government, a position that had to be ratified by the Senate .
Eric Holder had already held that post on a temporary basis for several days in 2001 until John Ashcroft, appointed by George W. Bush , was accepted by the upper house.
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 2 Trajectory
- 1 Deputy Attorney General of the United States
- 2 Private consultants
- 3 Obama’s presidential campaign
- 4 Attorney General
- 3 Sources
Biographical synthesis
Holder was born in 1951 in the borough of Bronx , New York , the son of an immigrant marriage from Barbados. He grew up in Queens and received an education at the prestigious Stuyvesant High School. Later he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1973 and the one of doctor in 1976 by University of Columbia. He is married to Sharon Malone, an obstetrician, with whom he had three children.
Trajectory
After graduating from law school, Holder worked for the Department of Justice as an attorney in the Public Integrity section from 1976 to 1988 . He was later appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as a judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Deputy Attorney General of the United States
In 1993 he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as District Attorney for the District of Columbia.
In 1997 , following Jamie Gorelick’s retirement, Clinton appointed him as the next Deputy Attorney General under the leadership of Janet Reno , confirmed by the Senate several months later unanimously. Holder’s opposition to the death penalty was criticized in the days leading up to his confirmation as a deputy, but he promised his intention to cooperate with current legislation. Janet Reno, also critical of capital punishment, said: “I am not a defender of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as Congress gives it to us.” Holder became the first African American to hold such a high position in the American justice system.
As Deputy Attorney General, Holder was involved, along with Jack Quinn, in the controversy over the clemency of fugitive Marc Rich that affected the image of President Clinton .
Following George W. Bush’s victory in 2001 , Holder temporarily served as Attorney General until John Ashcroft was ratified by the Senate .
Private consultants
Since 2001 , Holder has been working at the Washington DC- based law firm Covington & Burling as an attorney. He assisted in the negotiation with the Department of Justice and the company Chiquita Brands International in a case of payments by the latter to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, then considered a terrorist group by the United States . In the final agreement, Chiquita Brands was awarded a fine of $ 25 million when it was proven that it had ties to the paramilitaries.
Obama presidential campaign
At the end of 2007 he joined the campaign for the presidency of the senator from Illinois as legal adviser. He was also part of the selection committee for the campaign.
Attorney General
The 18 of November of 2008 , the winner of the presidential candidate, Barack Obama has selected Eric Holder as Attorney General future. Once officially designated subsequently ratified by the Senate on 2 of February of 2009 , Holder became the first African American to be at the front of the Justice Department. Holder’s future presence in the United States Cabinet was the continuation of other top African-American officials, such as Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice , Secretaries of State under the Bush administration.
On 25 September as as 2014 he announced his resignation as Attorney General, but remained in office until Loretta Lynch be replaced by the 27 as April as 2015 .