Areas of Expertise. Practices and Industries. Education Columbia Law School, J. Department of Justice U. Share links:. Columbia Law School, J. District of Columbia New York. Speeches of Attorney General Eric H. Blogs by Attorney General Eric H. After grad school, he exhibited abstract works and taught at various universities and public schools. Since , he has specialized in oil portraiture, and has been commissioned by everyone from U.
Supreme Court Justices to celebrities. In , Knox unveiled official portraits of President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton at the White House—becoming the first black artist to paint an official presidential portrait. You are here Home » Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General: Eric H.
Attorney General on February 2, , by a vote of All 21 dissenting votes cast were by Republicans , while 19 more Republicans voted in favor of his confirmation. Many Republicans also stated they would vote against him because of his involvement in the pardon of Marc Rich during Holder's time as Deputy Attorney General at the close of President Bill Clinton's second term.
Riots and violence occurred for more than a week in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year-old black man, by police officer Darren Wilson. Holder announced a federal investigation two days after the shooting on August 11, , stating, "The federal investigation will supplement, rather than supplant, the inquiry by local authorities.
At every step, we will work with the local investigators, who should be prepared to complete a thorough, fair investigation in their own right. Obama said, "While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only deserves to raise tensions and stir chaos, it undermines, rather than advancing justice.
Blunt made clear his opposition to the idea of federal investigators taking over the case from state investigators, if proposed. Holder recalled his own problems with authority while visiting Ferguson. At the local community college he said, "I understand that mistrust. I am the attorney general of the United States. But I am also a black man. I am running with my cousin. Hold it! On February 11, , Holder urged states to repeal or amend laws prohibiting ex-felons from voting.
While the federal government does not have the ability to force the changes, Holder stated, "Whenever we tell citizens who have paid their debts and rejoined their communities that they are not entitled to take part in the democratic process, we fall short of the bedrock promise — of equal opportunity and equal justice — that has always served as the foundation of our legal system.
Rand Paul supported the push by the Justice Department , claiming, "There are Republicans on our side who will work with Democrats who will do the right thing on this. Holder stated in a memo, "It is the Justice Department's policy to recognize lawful same-sex marriages as broadly as possible, to ensure equal treatment for all members of society regardless of sexual orientation. On October 2, , the Justice Department announced the seizure of the black market website, Silk Road, where users coordinated drug trafficking and other illegal activities using digital currency.
According to an FBI spokesperson, "basically he made a simple mistake and we were able to identify him. On May 19, , the DOJ announced an investigation stemming from the Silk Road drug bust into the use of the crypto-currency Bitcoin and its involvement in the Silk Road drug trade.
The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, one of the world's most popular exchanges, was issued subpoenas for customer transaction logs and information about the solicitation of investors to determine if the exchange was involved with the Silk Road drug exchange.
The exchange filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy shortly after halting exchanges on February 15, The DOJ suggested that the exchange of federal currency for the crypto-currency could fall under money laundering laws in the United States.
On August 12, , Holder announced a directive to federal prosecutors lowering the number of convictions that mandate minimum sentences. Holder's directive stated the mandatory minimum sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenders were a contributing factor in the prison population that grew to percent since Supreme Court decision on June 25, , released 16 jurisdictions from federal voting rights oversight set in place by the Voting Rights Act of The Supreme Court's decision required Congress to pass new standards of determining which jurisdictions should have federal oversight.
On July 25, Holder announced that the Department of Justice would attempt to regain oversight by using another section of the Voting Rights Act, known as bail-in. If the Department can provide evidence of unconstitutional voting practices in the state to federal courts, oversight can be restored.
However, it would not have the strength or coverage of the original legislation. Holder also pushed Congress to reimpose clear guidelines for jurisdictions needing federal oversight. The Justice Department announced on August 22, that it would challenge Texas ' Voter ID law, as well as the redistricting plan passed by the Republican majority legislature in separate cases.
The Department will take action against jurisdictions that attempt to hinder access to the ballot box, no matter where it occurs. We will keep fighting aggressively to prevent voter disenfranchisement. Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew.
Click here to learn more. On May 19, , the Justice Department charged five members of the Chinese military of hacking into the systems of U. Steel Corp. The indictment, based on the judgment of a grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania named five individuals for conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang disputed the claims, stating, "The Chinese government, the Chinese military and their relevant personnel have never engaged or participated in cyber theft of trade secrets.
The U. On November 14, , 20 House Republicans signed a proposal calling for the impeachment of Holder. The leader of the group, Rep. Pete Olson , stated, "For nearly five years, Attorney General Holder has systematically deceived Congress and destroyed the credibility of the Justice Department in the eyes of the American people. Only one cabinet member has been impeached in the nation's history, Secretary of War William Belknap in He was impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate when he chose to resign.
The parallel construction allowed the DEA to form an investigation based on NSA evidence but act as if the investigation began on a smaller charge initiated by the DEA or other law enforcement. On August 26, , eight Democrats and two Republicans requested Holder answer questions about the process in a classified briefing. Tammy Baldwin D-Wis. I think that the trust of the American people in their government is what's at stake here.
On May 22, , Holder acknowledged in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy that four United States citizens had been killed in unmanned droned strikes since One of those citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki, was targeted, but three others were not targeted by the strikes. Senator Rand Paul filibustered the nomination of John Brennan to CIA Director, lasting nearly 13 hours, with concerns of the government's use of unmanned drones and asking for clarification.
On May 20, , the DOJ announced the secret memo allowing the legal killing of American terrorism suspects would be released. The department opted not to appeal a court order to release the memo to the public. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate claimed they would fight the nomination of federal judge David J. Barron, if the information was not released to the public. Department of Defense did not have to answer FOIA requests for the documents allowing the drone strikes. Over a two month period, federal prosecutors obtained phone records of Associated Press journalists, their headquarters and offices in New York , Hartford, Washington D.
House of Representatives during an investigation in early of leaked, sensitive information. The AP released a story in May , which is believed to be linked to the wiretapping, connecting a CIA counterterrorism operation in Yemen to the killing of Osama bin Laden in May At least 20 phone lines were believed to be monitored by federal prosecutors with the Department of Justice. On May 19, , another case of federal investigators wiretapping journalists was uncovered when Fox News reporter James Rosen had his personal email correspondence seized in relation to a story published on June 11, The investigation into leaked documents from the State Department 's Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, led them to Rosen through phone and email communication leading up to the publishing of Rosen's story.
All correspondence with Kim was seized along with two additional days of personal correspondence. Fox News also claimed the Justice Department seized several phone records, including one listed as Rosen's parents. Attorney 's Office for the District of Columbia released a statement on May 22, , denying the use of wiretaps on phones and the seizure of any computer records of any news organization.
On May 10, , news broke that various branches of the Internal Revenue Service had specifically targeted conservative groups' applications for tax-exempt status. It began during the tea party surge in The agency was separating tax-exempt applications by searching for political terms such as "tea party" and "patriot.
The flagging continued, however, when the criteria was changed in January to look out for groups educating on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The targeting included allegations that tea party groups were forced to provide information not asked of other tax exempt groups. Examples of this were requests for donor information, Facebook posts, resumes and political intentions of group officials and connections to other groups. Testifying on May 15, Holder promised a criminal investigation spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI and federal prosecutors into the Cincinnati office that were blamed for the extra attention paid to conservative organizations, but he made it clear that the investigation would span more than just the Cincinnati office, in order to find out where the "enforcement gaps" in the IRS's policies lie.
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