HRC Blog

Today: Eric Holder confirmation hearing for Attorney General

January 15, 2009

The confirmation hearing for Eric Holder, President-elect Obama's nominee for attorney general, has begun before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Human Rights Campaign strongly supports the nomination of Eric Holder. Mr. Holder understands that access to justice is a civil right and has fought throughout his career to end the scourge of bias-motivated violence in our country.

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Eric Holder joined the Department of Justice’s Attorney General's Honors Program. In 1988 he was appointed Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1993 President Clinton nominated Mr. Holder for the position of United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and he was confirmed later that year. In this role he worked vigorously to reduce crime and increase neighborhood safety.

As we wrote before, Holder has used his positions to emphasize hate crimes enforcement to ensure that bias-motivated crimes would receive adequate resources, attention, and punishment. Hate crimes continued to be a priority for Mr. Holder after his 1997 appointment by President Clinton to Deputy Attorney General. His dedication to the issue of addressing hate-motivated violence is exemplified in his 1999 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Read the text of his remarks at: http://www.hrc.org/11605.htm