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Eric H. Holder Jr., Esq.


Self Description

November 2006: "During his professional career, Mr. Holder has held a number of significant positions in government. Upon graduating from Columbia Law School, he moved to Washington, DC and joined the Department of Justice as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program. He was assigned to the newly formed Public Integrity Section in 1976 and was tasked to investigate and prosecute official corruption on the local, state and federal levels. While at the Public Integrity Section, Mr. Holder participated in a number of prosecutions and appeals involving such defendants as the Treasurer of the state of Florida, the Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, a local judge in Philadelphia, an Assistant United States Attorney in New York City, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a "capo" in an organized crime family in Pennsylvania.

In 1988, Mr. Holder was nominated by President Reagan to become an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was confirmed by the Senate and his investiture occurred in October of that year. Over the next five years, Judge Holder presided over hundreds of civil and criminal trials and matters. Many of the trials involved homicides and other crimes of violence.

In 1993, President Clinton nominated Mr. Holder to become the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was confirmed later that year and served as the head of the largest United States Attorneys office in the nation for nearly four years. He was the first black person to serve in that position. As US Attorney, Mr. Holder created a Domestic Violence Unit to more effectively handle those types of tragic cases, implemented a community prosecution project to work hand in hand with residents and local government agencies in order to make neighborhoods safer, supported a renewed enforcement emphasis on hate crimes so that criminal acts of intolerance would be severely punished, developed a comprehensive strategy to improve the manner in which agencies handled cases involving the abuse of children, launched a community outreach program to reconnect the US Attorney's office with the citizens it serves, revitalized the Victim/Witness Assistance Program to better serve those individuals who were directly affected by crime and developed "Operation Ceasefire", an initiative designed to reduce violent crime by getting guns out of the hands of criminals.

In 1997, President Clinton appointed Mr. Holder to serve as Deputy Attorney General, the number two position in the United States Department of Justice. He became the first African-American to serve as Deputy Attorney General. Mr. Holder briefly served under President Bush as Acting Attorney General pending the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft.

As Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Holder supervised all of the Department's litigating, enforcement, and administrative components in both civil and criminal matters. Under his guidance, the Department developed and issued its guidelines on the criminal prosecution of corporations (the so called "Holder Memorandum") and issued guidelines on the use of the False Claims Act in civil health care matters. A task force he created also developed the existing regulation concerning the appointment of special counsels to investigate allegations involving high-level federal officials. He began the Department's Children Exposed to Violence Initiative and made Department priorities enforcement efforts in health care fraud, computer crimes and software piracy. Mr. Holder successfully worked to fund and expand nationwide the concept of community prosecution which seeks to connect more directly prosecutors with the citizens they serve. At the request of the President, Mr. Holder began and directed Lawyers for One America a multi-agency, public/private partnership designed to diversify the legal profession and to increase the amount of pro bono work done by the nation's attorneys. As Deputy Attorney General Mr. Holder was at that time the highest-ranking black person in law enforcement in the history of the United States."

http://www.cov.com/eholder/

Third-Party Descriptions

February 2013: 'The secrecy surrounding such strikes is fast emerging as a central issue in this week’s hearing of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, a key architect of the drone campaign, to be CIA director.  Brennan was the first administration official to publicly acknowledge drone strikes in a speech last year, calling them “consistent with the inherent right of self-defense.” In a separate talk at the Northwestern University Law School in March, Attorney General Eric Holder specifically endorsed the constitutionality of targeted killings of Americans, saying they could be justified if government officials determine the target poses  “an imminent threat of violent attack.”'

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16843014-exclusive-justice-department-memo-reveals-legal-case-for-drone-strikes-on-americans

December 2012: "Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder granted the center the ability to copy entire government databases holding information on flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and other data, and to store it for up to five years, even without suspicion that someone in the database has committed a crime, according to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story."

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/12/gov-dossiers-on-us-citizens/

November 2012: "It remains unclear whether the F.B.I. also gained access to Mr. Petraeus’s personal e-mail account, or if it relied only on e-mails discovered in Ms. Broadwell’s in-box. It also remains uncertain exactly when the information about Mr. Petraeus reached Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director. Both men have declined to comment."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/us/us-officials-say-petraeuss-affair-known-in-summer.html

January 2012: 'Taking aim at financial institutions that engaged in risky lending practices that many believe tipped the country into financial crisis, Mr. Obama said he was asking Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and state attorneys general to expand investigations into abusive lending. The new unit, he said, “will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/us/politics/state-of-the-union-2012.html

December 2011: "The move was the first time since 1994 that the department has exercised its powers under the Voting Rights Act to block a voter identification law. It followed a speech this month by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that signaled an aggressive stance in reviewing a wave of new state voting restrictions, largely enacted by Republicans in the name of fighting fraud."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/us/justice-department-rejects-voter-id-law-in-south-carolina.html

December 2011: 'Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the settlement showed that the Justice Department would “vigorously pursue those who would take advantage of certain Americans because of their race, national origin, gender or disability,” adding: “Such conduct undercuts the notion of a level playing field for all consumers. It betrays the promise of equal opportunity that is enshrined in our Constitution and our legal framework.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/business/us-settlement-reported-on-countrywide-lending.html

September 2011: "Mr. Horne recently filed a lawsuit challenging the Voting Rights Act’s requirement that Arizona clear its redistricting maps and voting changes with the federal government. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. responded in a statement that he would fight to uphold the law."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/us/04redistrict.html

August 2011: '“The officers convicted today abused their power and violated the public’s trust during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, exacerbating one of the most devastating times for the people of New Orleans,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said. “I am hopeful today’s verdict brings justice for the victims and their family members, helps to heal the community and contributes to the restoration of public trust in the New Orleans Police Department.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/us/06danziger.html

June 2011: 'Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that a two-year review by a specially appointed prosecutor, John H. Durham, had determined that any further investigation into that large group of cases “is not warranted.” The inquiry into the two deaths, though, could result in criminal charges against Central Intelligence Agency officers or contractors.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/us/politics/01DETAIN.html

May 2011: "While Goldman paid $550 million last year to settle accusations that it had misled investors who bought the Abacus mortgage security, no other individuals at the bank have been named. Now, however, as criticism has grown about the lack of cases brought by regulators, the scope of the inquiries appears to be widening. The United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., has said publicly that his lawyers were reviewing possible charges against other Goldman officials in the wake of a Senate investigation that produced reams of documents detailing other questionable decisions that were made in the firm’s mortgage unit."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/business/01prosecute.html

November 2010: '“I am confident that there is no entrapment here, and no entrapment claim will be found to be successful,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Monday. “There were, as I said, a number of opportunities that the subject in this matter, the defendant in this matter, was given to retreat, to take a different path. He chose at every step to continue.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/us/politics/30fbi.html

June 2010: "The Obama administration has decided to file a lawsuit to strike down a new Arizona law aimed at deporting illegal immigrants....Legal action has been widely expected, given Mr. Obama’s repeated statements against it, as well as the concerns that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has voiced in interviews and news conferences."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/politics/19arizona.html

May 2010: "WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Sunday it would seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects without informing them of their rights, as Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. flatly asserted that the defendant in the Times Square bombing attempt was trained by the Taliban in Pakistan."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/us/politics/10holder.html

October 2009: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has ordered a review of a little-known Bush administration policy requiring some defendants to waive their right to DNA testing even though that right is guaranteed in a landmark federal law, officials said."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/10/AR2009101002348.html

August 2009: 'American officials say they are thrilled with the Mexicans’ more aggressive extradition policy. “The best way to disrupt and dismantle a criminal organization is to lock up its leaders and seize their money — so we will work with our Mexican counterparts to locate and extradite, when appropriate, cartel leadership to the United States for prosecution,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in July.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/world/americas/11prisons.html

February 2009: "This week, Eric H. Holder Jr.'s swearing-in as the nation's first black attorney general and its top law enforcement official came weighted with heavy expectation that the system could change."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020403852.html

January 2009: 'Mr. Obama’s choice for attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., is widely expected to be asked about his views on these issues at his confirmation hearing this week. Associates say Mr. Holder is open to prosecutions based on specific accusations but is less eager to use the criminal law to commence wide-ranging inquiries. Before being chosen for the Obama cabinet, he said there should be “a reckoning” over Bush administration policies.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/us/politics/12inquire.html

August 2004: The panel did not find a utopia. It said that Kodak needed to formalize its succession plans at all levels of the organization to ensure that 'it is diversifying the ranks of people who control the levers,'' in the words of Eric H. Holder Jr., a Washington lawyer who was deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton and who chaired the panel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/24/business/24kodak.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Student/Trainee (past or present) Columbia University Organization Nov 1, 2006
Financial Supporter of (past or present) Supporter of (past or present) Concerned Black Men (CBM) Organization Feb 5, 2009
Advisor/Consultant to (past or present) Eastman Kodak Company Organization Nov 1, 2006
Organization Executive (past or present) Justice Department/Department of Justice (DOJ) Organization
Director/Trustee/Overseer (past or present) Lawyers for One America (LFOA) Organization Nov 1, 2006
Appointed/Selected by President William ("Bill") Jefferson Clinton Person Nov 1, 2006
Appointed/Selected Neil H. MacBride Esq. Person Aug 6, 2011
Subordinate of (past or present) Pres. Barack Hussein Obama Esq. Person Feb 5, 2009
Supervisor of (past or present) Thomas J. Perrelli Esq. Person Feb 9, 2012
Appointed/Selected by President Ronald Wilson Reagan Person Nov 1, 2006

Articles and Resources

33 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Previous 20]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Oct 09, 2009 Marijuana Licensing Fails to Chase the Shadows

QUOTE: Those engaged in the experiment [by selling marijuana] here [now legal in New Mexico] never know if they will be arrested, because growing, selling and using marijuana remain illegal under federal law. And robbery is always a fear.

 New York Times
Sep 25, 2009 Justice Dept. to Address Backlog of Civil Rights Complaints

QUOTE: Some former staff members say those words have weight. They have spoken of deep damage done to the Justice Department's civil rights work by its previous leadership... and, through a series of hires, systematically placed lawyers ideologically aligned with the Bush administration -- some with little to no civil rights experience -- in permanent civil rights jobs.

 Washington Post
Sep 14, 2009 Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online Antitrust Concerns Swirl Around Sale of Diebold Voting Machines

QUOTE: Sen. Charles Schumer asked the Justice Department’s antitrust division on Monday to investigate the recent sale of Diebold’s voting machines division to a competitor, saying the deal raises anti-competitiveness concerns and has “adverse implications on how our country votes.”

 Wired
Aug 24, 2009 Holder to Appoint Prosecutor to Investigate CIA Terror Interrogations

QUOTE: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has decided to appoint a prosecutor to examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors may have violated anti-torture laws and other statutes when they allegedly threatened terrorism suspects...

 Washington Post
Aug 10, 2009 Mexico’s Drug Traffickers Continue Trade in Prison (War Without Borders)

QUOTE: Mexico’s prisons, as described by inmates and insiders and viewed during several visits, are places where drug traffickers find a new base of operations for their criminal empires, recruit underlings, and bribe their way out for the right price.

 New York Times
Aug 07, 2009 Reforming Crack-Cocaine Laws, but Leaving Injustice Intact?

QUOTE: reformers of drug sentencing laws are closing in on a goal that was unthinkable even a few years ago: scrapping the federal sentencing structure established in 1986 that gives far harsher penalties for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine, resulting in prisons packed with low-level, predominantly African American offenders.

 Time Magazine
Jul 28, 2009 State officials seek sports betting to boost revenue

QUOTE: Now officials in Delaware and New Jersey, facing their own budget problems, say it's time for a bolder move: full-scale, legalized sports betting... The plans are being resisted by the nation's four major pro sports leagues — the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and Major League Baseball — as well as the NCAA.

 USA TODAY
Jul 23, 2009 U.S. Rebuffs U.N. Requests for Guantanamo Visits, Data on CIA Prisons

QUOTE: he Obama administration has declined requests from U.N. human rights investigators for information on secret prisons and for private interviews with inmates at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.N. officials said, dampening their hopes of greater U.S. cooperation on human rights issues.

 Washington Post
Jul 08, 2009 Justice Dept. Whistle-Blower in Alabama Case Is Fired

QUOTE: A Department of Justice whistle-blower who accused prosecutors of misconduct in the closely watched federal corruption trial of former Gov. Donald E. Siegelman of Alabama has been fired, and claims retaliation is the reason.

 New York Times
Feb 05, 2009 Holder Seen as a Chance To Right Racial Wrongs: With First Black Attorney General Come Expectations That Justice System Can Change

QUOTE: Eric H. Holder Jr.'s swearing-in as the nation's first black attorney general and its top law enforcement official came weighted with heavy expectation that the system could change. Known as a prosecutor who was unflinchingly tough on crime, Holder, 58, is also a former civil rights lawyer who has mentored young black men. Many advocates view him as the best chance in decades to right what they consider unchecked racial injustice and insensitivity by federal officials.

 Washington Post
Jan 11, 2009 Obama Reluctant to Look Into Bush Programs

QUOTE: President-elect Barack Obama signaled in an interview broadcast Sunday that he was unlikely to authorize a broad inquiry into Bush administration programs like domestic eavesdropping or the treatment of terrorism suspects. But Mr. Obama also said prosecutions would proceed if the Justice Department found evidence that laws had been broken.

 New York Times
Aug 24, 2004 Race Remains a Difficult Issue for Many Workers at Kodak

QUOTE: what kind of place is Kodak for African-Americans? The place that, for three consecutive years, has made it onto Fortune magazine's list of the top 50 companies for minorities? Or a place that consistently pays black employees less than their white colleagues and harasses them more? The answer may lie somewhere in between.

 New York Times
Aug 01, 2002 Early Pension Benefited Charity's Ex-chief

QUOTE: The former chief executive of the United Way...[took] his pension nearly two years before actually retiring, an act that was not authorized by the organization's rules...

 Washington Post

33 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Previous 20]