Of West Indian Descent
He also credited his West Indian heritage. In a 1993 profile in Legal Times (a sibling publication of The American Lawyer), Holder discussed a college essay he wrote about West Indians. Researching it, he said, helped him understand the origins of his personal drive. "It gave me an interesting perspective on how West Indians were viewed by native blacks ," he said. "They were called the Black Jews because they were shopkeepers and strivers—and they were resented."
From the Bronx
Holder was born in the Bronx and grew up in East Elmhurst, then a mix of middle-class Italians (Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia is from the area) and African Americans. His father sold real estate and his mother worked as a secretary. Neither of his parents went to college but they valued education and encouraged in Holder a strong work ethic. He didn't need much motivation, according to his mother, Miriam Holder. "I think he was always mature beyond his years," she says.
Went to Columbia Law School and Worked for the NAACP
After earning his undergraduate degree in American history, Holder went straight to Columbia Law School, working for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
Worked at the Justice Public Integrity Department
His first job out of law school was with Justice's brand-new Public Integrity Section. Holder, who was accepted to the Justice Department's honors program, had read about the new section in the New York Post and asked the head of personnel for the criminal division to be placed there.
In the wake of Watergate, it was a heady place to be. The original staff of eight lawyers confronted corruption among public officials with the innovative use of mail fraud and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statutes. The talent level in the office was high and the cases were often headline material. At Public Integrity, Holder gained national notice for pursuing corrupt judges in Philadelphia and met some of the lawyers who are today his closest friends, including Reid Weingarten, the Steptoe & Johnson white-collar defense lawyer.
http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202421743636Not really a Clinton Guy in the true sense
Holder was never especially close to the Clintons, the president or the first lady. He says he was grateful for the appointments he'd received in the Clinton administration and left the Justice Department as "a Clinton guy." But when Obama asked, he was ready to join the rival campaign.
Is Against the Death PenaltyIn 1997, upon the spring retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the next Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno. Holder was quickly confirmed several months later in the Senate by a unanimous vote<6>. During his confirmation hearing, Holder's opposition to the death penalty was questioned, but he pledged his intention to cooperate with the current laws and Attorney General Janet Reno, saying, "I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us."<7> Holder was the first Black American to serve in each of those positions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder
As Deputy Attorney General, Holder was drawn into controversy surrounding President Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive and Democratic contributor Marc Rich. Between November 2000 and January 2001 Jack Quinn, Rich's lawyer and former Clinton White House Counsel from 1995-96, had been contacting Holder, testing the waters for the political viability of a presidential pardon. After presenting his case to Holder in a November phone call and a last minute January 17th letter, Quinn arranged a phone call between the White House and Holder, asking the Deputy Attorney General to share his opinion on the Rich pardon. Ultimately, Holder gave a "neutral, leaning towards favorable" opinion of the pardon to Clinton. During his February testimonies before the House Government Reform Committee <9> and Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder argued his phone call was not intended as a formal Justice Department blessing of the pardon, saying, "my interaction with the White House, I did not view as a recommendation. Because... I didn't have the ability to look at all the materials that had been vetted through the way we normally vet materials." He also did not believe his opinion would be interpreted as a go-ahead for the pardon. "What I said to the White House counsel ultimately was that I was neutral on this because I didn't have a factual basis to make a determination as to whether or not Mr. Quinn's contentions were in fact accurate, whether or not there had been a change in the law, a change in the applicable Justice Department regulations, and whether or not that was something that would justify the extraordinary grant of a pardon." <10> In a 476-page report covering 177 Clinton twilight pardons, the House Government Reform Committee concluded, in part, that Holder had played a significant role in facilitating the Rich pardon, first by pointing Rich legal representatives to the well connected Jack Quinn, and ultimately by delivering a favorable opinion of the pardon to the President from his position of authority. <11>
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