Yesterday (Mon., Feb. 2) Eric Holder won Senate confirmation Monday as the nation’s first African-American attorney general. The vote was 75-21, with all the opposition coming from Republicans.
Holder’s chief supporter, Sen. Patrick Leahy, said the confirmation was a fulfillment of civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s dream that everyone would be judged by the content of their character.
Holder becomes the only black in the Obama administration in what has traditionally been known as the president’s Cabinet. Three other African-Americans have been chosen for top administration positions that hold the same rank.
Holder was a federal prosecutor, judge and the No. 2 Justice Department official in the Clinton administration.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
