Legal News

Report: Obama ?Deeply Interested? in Eric Holder as AG

By Ashby Jones

This just in: According to an AP report this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama’s aides have privately asked senators whether Washington attorney Eric Holder would be confirmed as the next attorney general, according to a person involved in the talks. The talks suggest that Obama is deeply interested in Holder, a partner at Covington & Burling in Washington who served as the No. 2 official in the Justice Department under President Clinton. Click here for an earlier report from Newsweek, which says that Obama offered Holder the job and he has accepted. Click here for an American Lawyer story from this past summer on Holder.

According to the AP story, in the past week, Obama aides have asked Senate Republicans whether they would support Holder. In particular, the aides questioned whether Holder’s confirmation would be delayed because of his involvement in the 2001 pardon of fugitive Marc Rich by President Bill Clinton.

One person involved in the talks told the AP that the Obama team has received some assurances that, while the Rich pardon would certainly come up during hearings, the nomination likely wouldn’t be held up over that. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations.

A former U.S. attorney, Holder is among Washington’s most prominent defense attorneys. He would be the first black attorney general in U.S. history. Holder graduated from Columbia College and Columbia Law School.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).