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The Lugar Lecture Series welcomes former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to Denison University for an onstage conversation on Oct. 23, 2024.
The third-longest serving attorney general in U.S. history and the first African American to hold the position, Holder served in the Obama administration from February 2009 to April 2015. During his tenure, he championed landmark legislation on voting rights, immigration law, national security, and same-sex marriage.
While a student at Columbia Law School, Holder clerked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, the latter leading to his first job after law school. In this position, Holder prosecuted public officials accused of corruption, including the treasurer of the state of Florida, the ambassador to the Dominican Republic, a local judge in Pennsylvania, and an assistant U.S. Attorney in New York.
In 1988, former President Ronald Reagan nominated Holder to become an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where he presided over hundreds of civil and criminal trials. Five years later, President Bill Clinton nominated him to serve as the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., making him the first African American to hold that position.
In 1997, President Clinton appointed Holder the first African American deputy attorney general. In this role, he supervised all of the DOJ’s litigating, enforcement, and administrative components in civil and criminal matters. He also created Lawyers for One America, a program designed to diversify the legal profession and increase pro bono work nationally.
In total, Holder served in government for more than 30 years. Today, he has continued his pursuit of civil rights, serving as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and using his expertise as a leading voting rights advocate. He is currently senior counsel at the law firm Covington & Burling. In the summer of 2024, he and his firm were selected to help vet potential running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Holder is internationally recognized for his expertise in the most crucial issues of our times, from the economy to civil rights to cybersecurity. His first book, Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote - A History, a Crisis, a Plan, co-authored with Sam Koppelman and published in 2022, explores the history of the vote in America and an urgent summons to protect and perfect our democracy.
Among his many accolades, Holder is the recipient of the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award, GLAD’s Spirit of Justice Award, the National Urban League’s “Living Legend” award, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, Time Magazine named Holder one of the year’s “100 Most Influential People.”
About the Lugar Lecture Series
The Lugar Lecture Series was established by donations to the Golden Anniversary Fund at the 50th reunion of the class of 1954 in honor of their distinguished classmate, former Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.). Previous speakers have included Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sen. Olympia Snowe, and former U.S. defense secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.