President-elect Barack Obama has picked Eric Holder, a former deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton and currently a partner in the Washington office of Covington & Burling, to be the next attorney general, according to several news outlets.

According to Newsweek, Holder, 57, “still has to undergo a formal ‘vetting’ review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced.”

Members of Obama’s team have spent this week asking members of the Senate whether they would support Holder, reports the Associated Press. Of particular concern was Holder’s involvement in Clinton’s 2001 pardon of fugitive Marc Rich. Obama’s aides were reportedly told by senators that, while the Rich situation would be the subject of scrutiny, it would likely not hold up his confirmation.

If confirmed, Holder would be the nation’s first black attorney general.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Department of Justice, Federal Agencies, Obama. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.