Eric Holder was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States on February 3, 2009 by Vice President Joe Biden. In 1997, Holder was named by President Clinton to be the Deputy Attorney General, the first African-American named to that post. Prior to that he served as US Attorney for the District of Columbia. In 1988, Holder was nominated by President Reagan to become an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Prior to his position as Attorney General under President Obama, Holder was a litigation partner at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington.

A native of New York City, Holder graduated from Stuyvesant High School where he earned a Regents Scholarship. He attended Columbia College, majored in American History, and graduated in 1973. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1976. While in law school, he clerked at the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund and the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. Upon graduating, he moved to Washington 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.