He's President-elect Obama's top choice to serve as the nation's top lawyer, but Washington attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. is no stranger to the Justice Department -- or to making history.During his career he has faced controversy -- his involvement in a widely-questioned 11th-hour Clinton pardon and the Elian Gonzalez saga, which occurred during his tenure as the department's second-in-command -- but he also has gained a reputation for having a moderate approach to law enforcement issues and a true dedication to public service.
Holder, 57, met Obama at a 2004 dinner party welcoming the junior U.S. senator from Illinois to Washington, where he was headed to Capitol Hill as the nation's only black senator.
Holder recalled the meeting in a cover story in The American Lawyer earlier this year, saying that he and Obama sat next to each other and "just clicked" after discussing their foreign-born fathers, Ivy League educations and zeal for civil service. Additionally, Holder told The American Lawyer, "I think we share a worldview. ... [Obama] is not defined by his race. He's proud of it, cognizant of the pernicious effect that race has had in our history, but not defined by it."
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