Eric Holder at border and airport, as well as in intelligence operations. During his confirmation hearings, Holder agreed with Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat, Vermont) that a technique used by U.S. interrogators under the George W. Bush administration known as waterboarding is torture. Consequently, Senate Republicans delayed the confirmation vote on Holder though Senate Democrats accused them of applying a double standard. He has been critical of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the NSA warrantless surveillance program, accusing the Bush administration of a "disrespect for the rule of law... [that is] not only wrong, it is destructive in our struggle against terrorism." Holder has
Eric Holder overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28 with a bipartisan vote of 17 to 2. He was officially confirmed by the entire Senate on February 2, 2009, by a vote of 75 to 21 becoming the nation's first African-American Attorney General. His installation took place on March 27, 2009 at the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University. As of his indication to step down on September 25, 2014, Holder had the fourth longest tenure of any Attorney General in U.S. history. As Attorney General, Holder was a staunch defender of the President's legal right to prosecute the