Eric H Jr Holder

Attorney general nominee Eric H. Holder Jr. repeatedly pushed some of his subordinates at the Clinton Justice Department to drop their opposition to a controversial 1999 grant of clemency to 16 members of two violent Puerto Rican nationalist organizations, according to interviews and documents. Details of the role played by Holder, who was deputy attorney general at the time, had not been publicly known until now.

Former Justice Department official Eric H. Holder Jr. emerged Tuesday as Barack Obama's leading candidate for attorney general, and the president-elect's transition team was trying to gauge whether there was sufficient bipartisan support for him in the Senate, sources close to the transition confirmed.

President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., is now coming under fire from Senate Republicans, who have asked to delay what was expected to be a swift and easy confirmation over concerns about his role in some controversial Clinton-era pardons and other matters. Obama's selection of Holder initially was greeted with near-universal acclaim on Capitol Hill after Obama tapped him Dec. 1.

Senate Judiciary Committee staffers vetting Eric H. Holder Jr.'s nomination for attorney general said Friday they are seeking testimony from the Justice Department's former pardon attorney as they inquire into Holder's role in the 1999 grant of clemency to members of a Puerto Rican terrorist organization.

As Eric H. Holder Jr. gears up to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee today for his confirmation as attorney general, some Republicans say they will question him aggressively about whether his ties to Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich are more extensive than Holder has acknowledged.

For the last eight years, the Justice Department and the Bush administration were relatively quiet on the issue of race, its place within the social fabric of America and the enforcement of civil rights. But on Wednesday, Eric H. Holder Jr.

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. told a mostly military audience Wednesday that some of those engaged in the battle against terrorism did not always follow the law. Holder did not mention torture or name the target of his criticism, leveled in a speech for a law conference at the U.S. Military Academy. But he praised military lawyers in the Judge Advocate General's Corps for their work representing terrorism detainees.

In a quiet event during an otherwise well-publicized visit to Los Angeles this week, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. reached out to local Muslim American youths, calling on them to work with the government to fight violent extremism and pledging that the Justice Department would reinvigorate enforcement of civil rights and work to advance religious freedom.