Holder, Eric Himpton, Jr., 1951–, U.S. lawyer and government official, b. Queens, N.Y., grad. Columbia (B.A. 1973, J.D. 1976). He was a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Dept. from 1976 to 1988, when he was appointed a superior court judge for the District of Columbia. In 1993 he returned to the Justice Dept. as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, becoming the first African American to serve in that position. He subsequently served as deputy attorney general (1997–2001) under Janet Reno and was briefly acting U.S. attorney general (2001) before entering private practice. From 2009 to 2015 Holder was U.S. attorney general under President Barack Obama; he was the first African American to serve in the office. Afterward, he returned to private practice.
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