Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) offered high praise for President-elect Barack Obama's nomination of Washingtonian Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, the first African American nominee to that post. "The president has chosen one of us, a Washingtonian, whose integrity and excellence as a lawyer and a citizen we know first hand from the high quality of his service in this city as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Eric will bring a greater understanding of the U.S. Attorney General office than any nominee in memory. It would be difficult to imagine a better nominee for the difficult period ahead."

Holder, a long-time D.C. resident, was selected as the first African American U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia by a process Norton initiated when then-President Bill Clinton extended senatorial courtesy to her to name specific federal officials usually selected by senators of the same party as the president. Norton established the D.C. Judicial Nominating Commission, named Pauline Schneider, a past chair of the District of Columbia Bar Association, as chair, and chose Holder, then a Superior Court Judge from three names submitted to her by the Judicial Nominating Commission, following its comprehensive outreach and investigation of applicants.