page_title: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
section_title: Eric Holder (2009–2015)
hierarchical_section_title: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet / Cabinet / Attorney General / Eric Holder (2009–2015)
caption_attribution_description: English: Official portrait of United States Attorney General Eric Holder Español: Retrato oficial de Fiscal General de los Estados Unidos Eric Holder
context_page_description: The President of the United States has the authority to nominate members of the cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under Article II, Section II, Clause II of the United States Constitution.
  This page documents the nomination and confirmation process for cabinet nominees of Barack Obama's administration. They are listed in order of creation of the cabinet position.
context_section_description: On December 1, 2008, Obama announced that Eric Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General. Holder was formally nominated on January 20, 2009, and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28. Following his confirmation by the full Senate by a 75–21 vote on February 2, 2009, he became the first African-American Attorney General of the United States.
  In late 2007, Holder joined then-United States Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor. He served on Obama's vice presidential selection committee.
  Holder favors closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, although he has said that the detainees are not technically entitled to Geneva convention protections. He is opposed to the Bush administration's implementation of the Patriot Act, saying it is "bad ultimately for law enforcement and will cost us the support of the American people." He has been critical of US torture policy and the NSA warrantless surveillance program, accusing the Bush administration of a "disrespect for the rule of law... [that is] not only wrong, it is destructive in our struggle against terrorism."
  During his confirmation hearings in the Senate, Holder agreed with Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, that a technique used by U.S. interrogators under the Bush administration known as waterboarding is torture.
  On September 25, 2014, Holder announced that he would resign his post upon confirmation of a successor.
caption: Eric Holder
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