Personality Spotlight: Eric Holder

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Eric H. Holder Jr., President-elect Barack Obama's attorney general nominee, would be the first African-American in that post if confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Holder, formerly a Superior Court judge for the District of Columbia, a deputy attorney general and an acting attorney general, was nominated as the nation's top lawyer Monday.

Currently a senior legal adviser for Obama, he also was one of three members of Obama's vice presidential selection committee.

Holder briefly was acting attorney general under President George Bush until the Senate confirmed John Ashcroft.

Holder's political views are similar to Obama's, officials said. Holder favors closing the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison, opposed the implementation of the Patriot Act, and has criticized U.S. torture policies and the warrantless surveillance program.

A New York native, Holder attended public schools before going to Columbia University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in American history in 1973, Wikipedia said. He earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1976.

Holder is married to Sharon Malone, an obstetrician. They have three children.

In 1997, former President Bill Clinton nominated Holder to be deputy attorney general under Attorney General Janet Reno. The Senate unanimously confirmed Holder's nomination.

In his deputy position, Holder advised Reno about the breadth of the independent counsel statute. Ultimately Reno decided to permit Kenneth Starr to expand his investigation into Clinton's tryst with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, indirectly leading to the president's impeachment.

During the last days of the Clinton administration, Holder was involved in the presidential pardon of fugitive and Democratic contributor Marc Rich.

During testimony before the House Government Reform Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder said a phone call in which he offered his opinion about the pardon was not intended as a formal Justice Department approval of the Rich pardon, saying he didn't view his efforts "as a recommendation." He also testified that he didn't think his opinion would be perceived as a go-ahead for the pardon.

An investigation spearheaded by former House Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., concluded Holder had played a significant role in facilitating the Rich pardon, Wikipedia said.

Since 2001, Holder has worked as an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington, representing clients such as Merck and the National Football League.