Eric H. Holder Jr. Attorney general

Eric H. Holder Jr.
Confirmation: Confirmed Feb. 2
Chosen for: Attorney general
Will bring to the job: A heavyweight résumé bursting with legal and law enforcement credentials. Mr. Holder has spent most of his career as a federal prosecutor, and his friends say his views on the law and the role of government align closely with Mr. Obama’s.
Is linked to Mr. Obama by:Mutual friends and shared experiences, though Mr. Holder and Mr. Obama did not meet until 2004, when they were seated next to each other at a small dinner party in Washington. Mr. Holder has said he immediately “clicked” with Mr. Obama over the dinner, hosted by Ann Walker Marchant, niece of Vernon E. Jordan Jr., one of the city’s superlawyers. Mr. Holder and Mr. Obama attended Columbia as undergraduates (although Mr. Holder, at 57, is 10 years older than the president-elect). Each had an immigrant father (Mr. Holder’s parents are from Barbados). Another connection: Mr. Holder is close to Valerie Jarrett, an Obama confidant and co-chairwoman of the Obama transition team. During the campaign, Mr. Holder was part of a vice-presidential advisory team that helped pick Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware as Mr. Obama’s running mate.
In his own words:“Loyalty is something I value an awful lot. And so my decision to support Barack was not necessarily a difficult one, but I had to be really moved by him. My inclination would be support Senator Clinton, but I was overwhelmed by Barack.” (From a recent profile in American Lawyer magazine.)
Used to work as:Deputy attorney general under Janet Reno in the Clinton administration. Had been United States attorney for the District of Columbia; a federal judge on the superior court bench in Washington; and a prosecutor in the Justice Department’s public integrity section, which investigates political corruption. In recent years, Mr. Holder has worked as a partner at Covington & Burling, representing big-name clients like the National Football League, Chiquita Brands International and Merck.
Carries as baggage:His role in President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of Marc Rich, the fugitive financier, who in 1983 fled to Switzerland rather than face tax evasion charges. The pardon bypassed the usual Justice Department process, and so Mr. Holder, as deputy attorney general, had no direct role in it. But when queried about his view of the pardon, Mr. Holder told the White House he was “neutral, leaning towards favorable.” The comment was later seized on by Democrats to defend the pardon and by Republicans to blast Mr. Holder for endorsing the most heavily criticized pardon of Mr. Clinton’s presidency, in part because it turned out that Mr. Rich’s former wife, Denise Rich, donated large amounts of money to Mr. Clinton’s presidential library.
Résumé includes:Born Jan. 21, 1951, in the Bronx and raised in New York City ... attended public schools and graduated from Stuyvesant High School ... graduated from Columbia University and Columbia Law School ... married to Sharon Malone, an obstetrician in Washington ... the couple has three children.