U.S. Senate votes to confirm Eric Holder as Attorney General
February 2, 2009
VICTORY: HRC celebrates the confirmation of Eric Holder today for U.S. Attorney General. Holder, a former deputy attorney general and strong supporter of federal hate crimes protections for the LGBT community, was confirmed late this afternoon by a full U.S. Senate vote of 75 to 21. Holder, 58, becomes our nation’s first black Attorney General. Joe Solmonese issued this statement today in a press release:
Eric Holder has long been a voice for fairness and equality for all Americans, including LGBT citizens. The Department of Justice will now be led by an Attorney General dedicated to civil rights, protecting communities from hate violence and the fair and equal application of our laws. We were proud to join our allies in the civil rights community to support his confirmation.
As we’ve reported on this blog, HRC joined with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a broad coalition of civil rights organizations including the NAACP, National Council of La Raza and the National Women’s Law Center to support Holder’s nomination. We recognized the importance of Holder’s confirmation and launched a grassroots campaign to counter the delay tactics by some Republican Senators who sought to politicize the nomination.
