Holder Poised to Make History, Again

Additionally, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., whose committee would have the first opportunity to review Holder's nomination before it goes to a full Senate vote, acknowledged in a statement Tuesday that he has known Holder "for many years" and that he "would make an outstanding nominee, and should have the support of senators from both sides of the aisle if President-elect Obama were to choose him for this critical position."

Controversial Marc Rich Pardon

One of the most divisive acts, the pardoning of fugitive financier Marc Rich, came on the last day of Clinton's second term.

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Rich had fled prosecution on charges of tax evasion, racketeering, fraud and making illegal trade deals with Iran, taking up residence in Switzerland.

In the frenzied days before the transition of power to the Bush administration, the department reviewed the pardon request, and Holder graded the application "neutral leaning towards favorable."

Facing accusations that the president granted the pardon because of hefty donations made by Rich's ex-wife Denise -- as well as suspicion that Holder applied the somewhat favorable rating to the pardon application as part of an agreement with Rich lawyer Jack Quinn, who had also served in the Clinton administration as White House counsel, to secure the attorney general spot in a possible Al Gore administration -- Holder testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in February 2001.

"Knowing everything that I know now, I would not have recommended to the president that he grant the pardon," Holder told the panel. He claimed to have only a "passing familiarity" with the details of Rich's case, and said that he "did not think that the pardon request was likely to be granted, given Mr. Rich's fugitive status."

At the same hearing, federal prosecutors familiar with Rich's case testified that they were not looped in on the process. Additionally, officials claimed that there was a miscommunication between the Justice Department and the White House about the pardon.

House Republicans charged that there was something more sinister afoot. Former Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., said at the hearing that everything about the pardon "seems sleazy."

The Elian Gonzalez Saga

In 2000, Reno made the decision to deploy federal agents to the Miami home of Gonzalez, a 6-year-old Cuban boy who had washed ashore in Florida after a tumultuous journey from Cuba that his mother did not survive.