Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the official name for a lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the United States.

England and Wales[link]

The term was also used in England and Wales for lawyers who practised in the common law courts. In 1873, however, attorneys were redesignated solicitors (which had always been the title for those lawyers who practised in the courts of equity). Attorneys did not generally actually appear as advocates in the higher courts, a role reserved (as it still usually is) for barristers.

In England and Wales,^[1] references in any enactment to attorneys must be construed as references to solicitors of the Senior Courts.^[2]

Northern Ireland[link]

References in any statutory provision in force in Northern Ireland to attorneys must be construed as references to solicitors of the Court of Judicature.^[3]

See also[link]

• Attorneys in Japan
• Attorneys in Sri Lanka
• Attorneys in the United States
• Attorneys in South Africa

References[link]

Steven Blum
Blum at the Code Geass Premiere
Born	Steven Jay Blum (1965-04-28) April 28, 1965 (age 47)[1] Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Other names	David Lucas
Occupation	Voice Actor
Years active	1981–present

Steven Jay Blum (born April 28, 1965) is an American voice actor of anime and video games and Former Saban member, using his distinctive deep voice. Among his credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel in the anime show Cowboy Bebop and Mugen in Samurai Champloo, He voiced Roger Smith from The Big O, Orochimaru and Zabuza in the Naruto anime, X-Men's Wolverine in numerous games, the animated series Wolverine and the X-Men, the animated movie Hulk Vs, The Super Hero Squad Show and Marvel Anime: X-Men. He also provided the video game voice of Jack Cayman, the main character of MadWorld, Tank Dempsey, the comic relief of Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops zombie modes, Professor Galvez in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, and Grayson Hunt, the main protagonist of Bulletstorm and Gorim, Oghren, and First Enchanter Irving in the 2009 video game Dragon Age: Origins. In September 2000, Blum voiced the role of TOM, the robotic host of Toonami shown on Cartoon Network (replacing Sonny Strait in 1999), as the second through 4th incarnations of the character right up to the block's cancellation delivering the final lines uttered on the block, echoed his early role of Cowboy Bebop's Spike Spiegel. He was also the voice of 7-Eleven's "Oh Thank Heaven" television and radio advertisements and for his work with Vic Mignogna in a scratch-made sound bite series parodying Anheuser-Busch's "Real Men of Genius" radio ad campaign, titled "Real Fans of Genius". He is also well known in American based animation as the voices Heatblast, Ghostfreak, and Vilgax in the Ben 10 franchise, Jamie in Megas XLR, Yakky Doodle and Clamhead in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Smytus in My Life as a Teenage Robot, and his voice portrayals of Starscream in Transformers: Prime and Count Vertigo in DC Showcase: Green Arrow.

Filmography[link]

Anime[link]

Leading roles in bold.

• .hack//Legend of the Twilight – Sanjuro
• Afro Samurai – Assassins
• Arc the Lad – Elk's Father
• Battle Athletes – Headmaster Grant Oldman
• Battle B-Daman – Cain McDonnell, Meowmigos, Ababa
• Bastard‼ – Ninja Master Gara (Credited as David Lucas)
• The Big O – Roger Smith
• Blood+ – Moses, Collins
• Chobits – Hiroyasu Ueda
• Code Geass – Kyoshiro Tohdoh
• Cosmo Warrior Zero – Harlock
• Cowboy Bebop – Spike Spiegel, Yuri Kellerman
• Cyborg 009 (2001) – Cyborg 0013, Van Vogute
• Daigunder – Professor Hajime Akebono
• Digimon Adventure 02 – Flamedramon, Raidramon, Magnamon, BlackWarGreymon
• Digimon Tamers – Guilmon, Growlmon Wargrowlmon Gallantmon Gallantmon - Crimson Mode Mitsuo Yamaki, Kenta Kitagawa
• Digimon Frontier – J. P. Shibayama, Beetlemon, MetalKabuterimonGallantmon
• Digimon Data Squad – Falcomon
• Dinozaurs – Drago Wing
• Duel Masters 2.0 – Chill, Extreme Bucketman, Kyoshiro Kokujo
• Durarara!! – Kyohei Kadota
• El Hazard: The Alternative World – Dall Narciss
• éX-Driver – Toto
• Fist of the North Star (TV series) – Shin of the Nanto Seiken
• FLCL – Miyu Miyu, Masashi
• Fushigi Yûgi – Additional Voices
• Gad Guard – Seikai, Sharks, Additional Voices
• Gate Keepers – Jim Skylark
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – The Laughing Man
• Ghost Slayers Ayashi – Ryūdō Yukiatsu
• Giant Robo – Tetsugyu (Animaze/L.A. Hero dub)
• Great Teacher Onizuka – Eikichi Onizuka, Koji Fujioshi, Hiroshi Kochitani (Ep. 12–43) (Credited as David Lucas)
• Gun Frontier – Harlock
• Gungrave – Ballardbird Lee
• Gurren Lagann – Leeron Littner
• Guyver Bio Booster Armor – Agito Makishima
• Idaten Jump – Takeshi Yamato
• Immortal Grand Prix – Alex Cunningham
• Initial D – K.T. Takahashi (Tokyopop dub)
• Kikaider – Saburo/Hakaider
• Kurokami: The Animation – Bernhard
• Last Exile – Vincent Arthai
• Love Hina – Masayuki Haitani
• Macross Plus – Marge Gueldoa
• Mahoromatic – Toh Ryuga, Yoshihiko Gunji
• Marvel Anime – Wolverine, Kikyo Mikage
• Metropolis – Acetylene Lamp
• Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy – Char Aznable
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket – Al's Dad
• Moldiver – Kaoru Misaki
• Naruto/Naruto Shippuden – Zabuza Momochi, Orochimaru, Kuromaru, Murasame, Sazanami, Aniki, Kuromaru, Kigiri, Hyō,
• Outlaw Star – Additional Voices
• Perfect Blue – Nerd, Actor, Additional voices
• Planetes – Kho Cheng-Shin
• Rave Master – Shiba
• Resident Evil: Degeneration – Greg Glen
• Rurouni Kenshin – Toma Sakaki and Shishio Makoto
• S-CRY-ed – Kazuma
• Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School – Shizuma Kusanagi
• Samurai Champloo – Mugen
• Serial Experiments Lain – Husband, English Teacher
• Scrapped Princess – Major Luke Storm
• Shinzo – Sago, Eilis, Golden Mushrambo
• Stellvia – Kent Austin
• Stitch! – Sparky (Experiment 221), Felix (Experiment 010), Tachicchu
• Street Fighter Alpha – Ken
• Street Fighter II V – Dhalsim (Animaze Dub)
• Strait Jacket – Leiot Stainbarg
• Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers, Again – Maj. Nexx and Lord Feff
• Tiger & Bunny – Jake Martinez
• Transformers: Robots in Disguise – Dark Scream, W.A.R.S., Fortress Maximus
• Trigun – Commander of the Roderick Thieves, Elder Nebraska
• The Twelve Kingdoms – Meiken
• Vandread – Duero McFile
• Wild Arms: Twilight Venom – Isaac
• Witch Hunter Robin – Akio Kurosawa
• Wolf's Rain – Darcia
• X-TV – Aoki Seiichirou
• Zatch Bell! – Gofure, Shin, Dr. Hakase, Vile (Demolt's human partner)

Non-Anime[link]

• Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes – The Red Skull, Wolverine, Beta Ray Bill
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Heat Wave, Captain Cold
• Ben 10 – Vilgax, Heatblast, Ghostfreak, Zs'Skayr, additional voices
• DC Showcase: Green Arrow – Count Vertigo, Newsreporter
• G.I. Joe: Resolute – Duke, Roadblock, Wild Bill, Ripcord, Zartan, Doc, Operator, Technician,
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law – Yakky Doodle, Clamhead
• Chowder – Lemone
• The Cartoon Cartoon Show – (Jamie, Glorft Robot, Kid) in the episode "Megas XLR: LowBrow: Test Drive", Additional Voices
• Generator Rex – Sebastian, Leon
• Loonatics Unleashed – Fuz-Zs
• Mari Kari – Larry (FEARnet show)
• Megas XLR – Jamie
• My Life as a Teenage Robot – Smytus, Additional Voices
• Regular Show – Muscle Man's Brother, Leon, Techmo, Doomagedden Virus, Additional Voices
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation – Teacher, Benvie Tech Boy (uncredited)
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy – Additional Voices
• The Legend of Korra – Amon
• The Spectacular Spider-Man – Green Goblin, Chameleon, Dilbert Trilby, Blackie Gaxton, Seymour O'Reilly, Gargoyle
• The Super Hero Squad Show – Wolverine, Redwing, Heimdall, Zabu, Abomination, Fin Fang Foom, Pyro, Thanos (Season 1)
• Toonami (Cartoon Network Block) – TOM
• Transformers: Prime (2010–) – Starscream
• Transformers: Rescue Bots – Heatwave
• Ultimate Spider-Man – Wolverine, Deadpool
• W.I.T.C.H. – Blunk, Raythor, Kurt
• Wolverine and the X-Men – Wolverine, Vanisher
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? – Melbourne O'Riley, Various
• Young Justice – Count Vertigo, Hal Jordan, Rudy West, Henchy

Films[link]

• Adventures in Voice Acting – Himself
• Ah! My Goddess: The Movie – Celestine
• Akira – Scientist, Hospital Doctor, Resistance Member (Animaze/Pioneer Dub)
• All-Star Superman – Atlas, General Sam Lane
• Armitage III: Poly-Matrix – Kelly's Manager
• Batman: Year One – Stan
• Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens – Heatblast
• Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix – Heatblast, Vilgax, Additional Voices
• Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card – Yoshiyuki Terada
• Cowboy Bebop: The Movie – Spike Spiegel
• Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic – Lucifer
• DC Showcase: Green Arrow – Count Vertigo
• Digimon: The Movie – Poromon, Flamedramon, Raidramon, Magnamon, Computer Voice #1
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children – Vincent Valentine
• Green Lantern: Emerald Knights – Kloba Vud, Palaqua, Ranakar, G'Hu
• Hulk Vs – Wolverine
• Lilo & Stitch – Additional Voices
• Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Bonds – Orochimaru
• Resident Evil: Degeneration – Greg Glenn
• Sakura Wars: The Movie – Yuichi Kayama
• Street Fighter Alpha movie – Ken Masters
• Street Fighter II: The Movie – T. Hawk
• Strait Jacket" – Leiot Steinberg / Rayotte Steinberg
• Superman vs The Elite –
• Tekkon Kinkreet – The Doctor
• The Little Polar Bear – Henry
• The Invincible Iron Man – Party Guest (Uncredited)
• They Were Eleven – Rednose, Amazon, King
• Ultimate Avengers – Additional Voices
• What the Bleep Do We Know!? – Various
• Zentrix – OmnicronPsy

Video Games[link]

• .hack – Sanjuro, Wiseman, Boney Grunty, Yata, IYOTEN, Nala
• Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War – Captain Jack Bartlett (uncredited)
• Ace Combat: Assault Horizon – AWACS Kingmaster
• Advent Rising – Marine
• Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs – Colonel Sven Kuechler
• Aion: The Tower of Eternity – Epeios, The Arena Master
• Anarchy Reigns – Jack Cayman
• Ape Escape 3 – Yellow Monkey
• Ape Escape Academy – Yellow Monkey, Pipotron Yellow
• Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits – Volk
• Area 51 (2005) – Additional Voices
• Armored Core: For Answer – Otsdarva, Maximillian Thermidor (uncredited), Shinkai (uncredited)
• Army of Two: The 40th Day – Heavy Flamethrower
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Leandros
• Asura's Wrath – Sergei
• Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana – Arlin (uncredited)
• ATV Offroad Fury 4 – Voice Over and Motion Capture talent
• Batman: Arkham Asylum – Killer Croc, Additional voices
• Batman: Arkham City – Sickle, inmates
• Battlezone – Corporal Buzz
• Ben 10: Protector of Earth – Heatblast, Vilgax, Zs'Skayr
• Bionicle: The Game – Kopaka
• Bionic Commando – Joseph “Super Joe” Gibson, Buraq Pilot, Multiplayer Announcer
• Bleach: Shattered Blade – Ulquiorra Schiffer
• Brave Fencer Musashi – Jon (Colonel Capricciola)
• Brütal Legend – Sparkies
• Bulletstorm – Grayson Hunt
• Bushido Blade 2 – Gengoro (as David Lucas)
• Call of Duty – Cpt. Foley
• Call of Duty: World at War – Tank Dempsey
• Call of Duty: Black Ops – Tank Dempsey
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – Tank Dempsey
• Captain America: Super Soldier – Baron Zemo
• Clive Barker's Jericho – Captain Devin Ross
• Command & Conquer: Generals – Various voices
• Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath – Additional Voices
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising – Harbinger Pilot
• Company of Heroes – Intel and Base Commander
• Conflict: Global Storm – Corporal Mick Connors
• Crash Nitro Kart – Crash Bandicoot and Emperor Velo the 27th
• Death by Degrees – Narrator and Enrique Ortega (English and Japanese voices) (uncredited)
• Dead Island – John Sinamoi
• Dead to Rights II – Jack Slate (uncredited)
• Dead Rising – Cliff Hudson, Roger Hall
• Destroy All Humans! – Mutated Majestic Agents, Loudspeaker Voice in Area 42
• Destroy All Humans! 2 – The Black Ninja Leader, Yamasuke Hirotaro, Space Traffic Control, Additional voices
• Diablo 3 – Zoltun Kulle
• Digimon Rumble Arena – Guilmon/Gallantmon, Reapermon, BlackWarGreymon
• Digimon Rumble Arena 2 – Guilmon/Growlmon/Gallantmon, Flamedramon, Phantomon
• Doom 3 – Various guards, Scientists, and Zombies
• Dragon Age: Origins – Oghren, Gorim, First Enchanter Irving
• Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening – Oghren
• Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout – Goku
• Duke Nukem Forever – Foreman
• Dynasty Warriors – Sun Jian, Xiahou Yuan (uncredited)
• Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon – Lightning Alpha
• EverQuest II – Corporal Peckett
• Fallout: New Vegas – Various voices
• F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate – Captain David Raynes
• Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus – Vincent Valentine
• Final Fantasy XII – Ba'Gamnan
• Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Arbiter of Time
• Final Fantasy XIV – Various
• Full Throttle – Sid
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (video game) – Gung Ho / Iron Grenadier
• Ghost Rider – Vengeance
• God of War – Ares
• Gothic 3 – Additional voices
• Gears of War – Marcus Fenix (Pre-release version only)
• Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters – Amon Sur
• Ground Control II: Operation Exodus – K´haunir Vicath and G´hall Vicath
• Guild Wars Prophecies – Justiciar Hablion, Male Lead Character
• Guild Wars Factions – The Male Lead Character
• Guild Wars: Eye of the North – Pyre Fierceshot
• Guild Wars 2 – Rytlock Brimstone
• Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise From the Ashes – Maximillian Berger
• Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure – Motoko, Bob
• Halo 3 – Brutes
• Halo: Reach – Various UNSC Marines
• Hot Shots Golf Fore – Zeus
• Justice League Heroes – White Martian Leader
• Killer7 – Kenjiro Matsuoka, Benjamin Keane, Trevor Pearlharbor
• Kessen II – Guan Yu, Xiahou Yuan (uncredited)
• Kessen III – Saitō Tatsuoki (uncredited)
• Lost: Via Domus – Jack Shepard
• Lego Batman: The Videogame – Batman, The Joker, Killer Moth, Two-Face, Killer Croc
• Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes – The Joker, Bane
• MadWorld – Jack Cayman
• MagnaCarta II – Schuenzeit Baren
• Mafia II – Chubby
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance – Wolverine, Venom, Rhino, A.I.M. Troopers, Skrull Scientist, Viking Warrior
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 – Wolverine, Nitro
• Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds/Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – Wolverine, Taskmaster
• Mass Effect 2/Mass Effect 3 – Grunt, Wilson, Crewman Matthews, Shadow Broker
• MediEvil 2 – Lord Palethorn
• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes – Various Guards
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops – Gene
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – Galvez
• Metro 2033 – Hunter
• Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma – Ethan Hunt
• Mortal Kombat (2011) – Reptile
• Motorstorm: Apocalypse – Big Dog
• Nano Breaker – Keith Spencer (uncredited)
• Naruto series – Orochimaru, Zabuza Momochi, Various
• Neo Contra – Master Contra (uncredited)
• Neverwinter Nights – Daelan Red Tiger
• Neverwinter Nights 2 – One of Many (Child, Brute, Mad Woman), PC (Male Hardened Battler Voice Set)
• Ninja Gaiden II – Zedonius
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 – Zedonius
• No More Heroes – Dark Star
• No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise – Dark Star
• Omega Boost – 1st Lieutenant Lester
• Phantom Brave – Walnut (uncredited)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow – Joshamee Gibbs, Black Smoke James, Gibbs, Various voices
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online – Jolly Roger
• Pitfall: The Lost Expedition – Pitfall Harry
• Power Rangers: Super Legends: – Lord Zedd, Lunar Wolf Ranger, SPD H.Q. Security System
• Prototype – Captain Eric Lim(Web of Intrigue only)
• Psychonauts – G-Men, Lungfish Zealot, Tiger
• Quake 4 – Additional Voices of various Marines
• Quantum Theory – Thanatos, Fear, Seed
• Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire – Abduel, Andre, Kokeeno Pookameeso, Magnum Opus, Salim
• RAGE – Captain Marshall, Phallinx Hagar
• Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando – The Thugs-4-Less Leader
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty – various voices
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time – Radio Announcer, Agorian
• Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One – Mr. Dinkles
• Rogue Galaxy – Zegram Ghart, Henry, Borga, Golba
• Samurai Warriors – Keiji Maeda (uncredited)
• Spawn: Armageddon – Violator
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky – Various stalker characters
• Saints Row: The Third – Zombie Voice
• Samurai Western – Ralph Norman
• Shadows of the Damned – Garcia Hotspur / Demons
• Shellshock: Nam '67 – Ramirez
• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga – Gale (uncredited)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 – Gale (uncredited)
• Singularity – Nikolai Demichev
• Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure – Auric, Additional Voices
• Sly 2: Band of Thieves – TOM-3 (Cameo)
• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time – Rioichi Cooper
• Spider-Man 3 – Rhino
• Spider-Man: Edge of Time – Anti-Venom
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions – Hobgoblin 2099, Noir Vulture, Silvermane
• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – Wolverine
• SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs – Mark Tepper
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault – Mark Tepper
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 – Mark Tepper
• Sorcery - Alchemist, Primus, Elven Assassin
• Star Ocean: Till the End of Time – Schweimer (uncredited)
• Star Wars: Battlefront II – Various Rebel Soldiers
• Star Wars: Empire at War – Imperial advisor, Rebel Plex Soldier
• Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption – Consortium advisor, Consortium Defiler, TIE Interceptor pilot
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Various Stormtroopers
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Stormtrooper #3
• Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance – Lt. Olin Garn
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast – Reborn Jedi, Galak Fyyar
• Star Wars: The Old Republic – Andronikos Revel / Baron Deathmark
• Suikoden IV – Brandeau (uncredited)
• Suikoden Tactics – Brandeau
• The Sword of Etheria – Vitis
• Titan Quest – Leonidus, Zeus, Various others
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II – Additional voices
• The Bouncer – Kou Leifoh
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – Rust
• The Dig – Dr. Ludger Brink, Cocytan Leader, Borneo Space Observer
• The Punisher – Bullseye, Matt Murdock
• The Secret World – Jack Boone
• Too Human – Hod, Additional Voices
• Tom Clancy's End War – Scot Mitchell
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 – Nick Salvatore
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter – Nick Salvatore
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X – LT Colonel Scott Mitchell
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary – Tihocan
• Transformers: Autobots – Create-A-Bot
• Transformers: Decepticons – Create-A-Bot
• Transformers: The Game – Trailbreaker
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Additional voices
• Transformers: War for Cybertron – Barricade, Narrator
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Starscream, Additional voices
• Tribes: Vengeance – Jericho
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune – Descendant
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Additional voices
• Undead Knights – Demon, King
• Urban Reign – Brad Hawk (uncredited)
• Valkyria Chronicles – Zaka
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines – Andrei the Tzimische, Courier, Sabbat
• Vanquish – Robert Burns
• Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra – Canaan, Professor, Sellers
• X-Men: Destiny – Wolverine, Pyro
• X-Men Legends – Wolverine
• X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse – Wolverine, Omega Red
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Wade Wilson, Senator Robert Kelly
• X-Men: The Official Game – Jason Stryker
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault – Imperial Guard, Assassin
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Sergeant Cyrus, Techmarine Martellus, Multiplayer Techmarine
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising – Sergeant Cyrus, Techmarine Martellus, Multiplayer Techmarine, Lord Eliphas, Chaos Lord
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution – Lord Eliphas, Sergeant Cyrus, Chaos Lord, Techmarine Martellus, Techmarine, Deranged Chaos Space Marine
• Zatch Bell! Mamodo Fury – Shin

Personal life[link]

Additionally, Blum worked as a writer in English adaptations of Naruto, Digimon: Digital Monsters and MegaMan NT Warrior.^[2] He is also a Jewish Spiritualist and is married.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Steven Blum at the Internet Movie Database
• Steven Blum at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Steven Blum convention appearances on AnimeCons.com
• A letter from "Lucas" to a fansite
• Steven J. Blum's official website

Hugh Barnett Cave (July 11, 1910–June 27, 2004) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.

Life[link]

Born in Chester, England, Hugh B. Cave moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I. His first name was in honor of Hugh Walpole, a favorite author of his mother, a nurse, who had once known Rudyard Kipling.

Cave attended Brookline High School.^[1] After graduating, Cave attended Boston University on a scholarship but had to leave when his father was severely injured. He worked initially for a vanity press, the only regular job he would ever have. He quit this position at age 20 to write for a living.

From 1932 until his death in 1997, Cave corresponded extensively with fellow pulp writer Carl Richard Jacobi. Selections of this correspondence can be found in Cave's memoir Magazines I Remember. Relations with his fellow pulp writers were not always so cordial. In the 1930s, Cave lived in Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, but he never met H.P. Lovecraft, who lived in nearby Providence. The two engaged in a heated exchange of correspondence (non-extant) regarding the ethics and aesthetics of writing for the pulps. At least two of Cave's stories are loosely attached to Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos - "The Isle of Dark Magic" and "The Death Watch".

During World War II Cave travelled as a reporter around the Pacific and in Southeast Asia. Following the war he moved to the Caribbean, spending five years in Haiti, after which he rebuilt and managed a successful coffee plantation in Jamaica. He returned to the United States in the early 1970s after the Jamaican government stole his plantation.

Hugh Cave was twice married, first to Margaret Long in a union that produced two sons before the couple began living apart, and Peggy (or Peggie) Thompson, who died in 2001. Cave was 93 when he died in Vero Beach, Florida, in 2004. His remains were cremated.

A photograph of Cave can be found at: [1]

Writing career[link]

Sources differ as to when Cave sold his first story: some say it was while he still attended Brookline High School,^[1] others cite "Island Ordeal", written at age 19 in 1929 while still working for the vanity press..

In his early career he contributed to such pulp magazines as Astounding, Black Mask, and Weird Tales. By his own estimate, in the 1930s alone, he published roughly 800 short stories in nearly 100 periodicals under a number of pseudonyms. Of particular interest during this time was his series featuring an independent gentleman of courageous action and questionable morals called simply The Eel. These adventures appeared in the late 1930s and early 40s under the pen name Justin Case. Cave was also one of the most successful contributors to the weird menace or "shudder pulps" of the 1930s.

In 1943, drawing on his experience as a war reporter, he authored one of his most highly regarded works, Long Were the Nights, telling of the first PT boats at Guadalcanal. He also wrote a number of other books on the war in the Pacific during this period.

During his post-war sojourn in Haiti, he became so familiar with the religion of Voodoo that he published Haiti: High Road to Adventure, a nonfiction work critically acclaimed as the "best report on voodoo in English." His Caribbean experiences led to his best-selling Voodoo-themed novel, The Cross On The Drum (1959), an interracial story in which a white Christian missionary falls in love with a black Voodoo priest's sister.

During this midpoint in his career Cave advanced his writing to the "slick" magazines, including Collier's, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. It was in this latter publication, in 1959, that "The Mission," his most popular short story, appeared—subsequently issued in hardcover by Doubleday, reprinted in textbooks, and translated into a number of languages.

But his career took a dip in the early 1970s. According to The Guardian, with the golden era of pulp fiction now in the past, Cave's "only regular market was writing romance for women's magazines." He was rediscovered, however, by Karl Edward Wagner, who published Murgunstrumm and Others, a horror story collection that won Cave the 1978 World Fantasy Award. Other collections followed and Cave also published new horror fiction.

His later career included the publication in the late 1970s and early 1980s of four successful fantasy novels: Legion of the Dead (1979), The Nebulon Horror (1980), The Evil (1981), and Shades of Evil (1982). Two other notable late works are Lucifer's Eye (1991) and The Mountains of Madness (2004). Moreover, Cave took naturally to the Internet, championing the e-book to such an extent that electronic versions of his stories can readily be purchased online.

Over his entire career he wrote more than 1,000 short stories in nearly all genres (though he is best remembered for his horror and crime pieces), approximately forty novels, and a notable body of nonfiction. He received the Phoenix Award as well as lifetime achievement awards from the International Horror Guild, the Horror Writers Association, and the World Fantasy Convention.^[2]

Bibliography[link]

Novels[link]

• Fishermen Four; an Outdoor Adventure Story (1942)
• The Cross on the Drum (1955)
• Drums of Revolt (1957)
• Black Sun (1960)
• The Mission (1960)
• Run, Shadow, Run (1968)
• Larks Will Sing (1969)
• Legion of the Dead (1979)
• The Nebulon Horror (1980)
• The Evil (1981)
• Shades of Evil (1982)
• Disciples of Dread (1988)
• Uncharted Voyage (1989)
• The Lower Deep (1990)
• Lucifer's Eye (1991)
• Isle of the Whisperers (1999)
• The Dawning (2000)
• The Evil Returns (2001)
• The Restless Dead (2002)
• The Mountains of Madness (2004)

Collections[link]

• The Witching Lands; Tales of the West Indies (1962)
• Murgunstrumm and Others (1977)
• The Corpse Maker (1988) (with Sheldon Jaffery)
• Death Stalks the Night (1995)
• Bitter/Sweet (1996)
• Escapades of the Eel (1997) (as Justin Case)
• The Door Below (1997)
• Bottled in Blonde; the Peter Kane Detective Stories (2000)
• The Lady Wore Black, and Other Weird Cat Tails (2000)
• Long Live the Dead; Tales from Black Mask (2000)
• Officer Coffey Stories (2000)
• Come Into My Parlor; Tales from Detective Fiction Weekly (2002)

Juveniles[link]

• The Voyage (1988)
• Conquering Kilmarnie (1989)

Short stories[link]

Nonfiction[link]

• Long Were the Nights; the Saga of PT Squadron "X" in the Solomons (1943)
• "Eure-cave!": A New Direction in Geology (1944)
• "The Fightn'est Ship"; the Story of the Cruiser "Helena" (1944)
• We Build, We Fight! The Story of the Seabees (1944)
• I Took the Sky Road (1945) (with Norman Mickey Miller)
• Wings Across the World; the Story of the Air Transport Command (1945)
• Haiti, Highroad to Adventure (1952)
• Four Paths to Paradise; a Book About Jamaica (1961)
• Magazines I Remember; Some Pulps, Their Editors, and What It Was Like to Write for Them (1994)

See also[link]

• List of horror fiction authors

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Cave, Hugh B., Escapades of the Eel, Chicago: Tattered Pages Press, 1977 (ISBN 1-884449-06-9)
• Dill, Timothy Ray, "An Interview with Hugh Cave" (PDF), Pulp Fiction Monthly, January 1997
• The FictionMags Index
• Parente, Audrey., Pulp Man's Odyssey: The Hugh B. Cave Story, [Mercer Island, WA] Starmont House, Inc., 1988
• The Phoenix Award
• "Published Pulp Stories by Hugh B. Cave" at Black Mask Magazine
• Williams, John, "Hugh B. Cave: Author of horror, crime, fantasy and adventure from pulp fiction's golden era", obituary in the Guardian, July 10, 2004.

External links[link]

• Hugh B. Cave at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Eric Holder
82nd United States Attorney General
Incumbent
Assumed office February 3, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	David Ogden James Cole
Preceded by	Michael Mukasey
Deputy Attorney General of the United States
In office June 13, 1997 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Jamie Gorelick
Succeeded by	Larry Thompson
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
In office October 1993 – June 13, 1997
Nominated by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	J. Ramsey Johnson[1]
Associate Judge on Superior Court of the District of Columbia
In office October 1988 – October 1993
Nominated by	Ronald Reagan
Personal details
Born	Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. (1951-01-21) January 21, 1951 (age 61) Bronx, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Sharon Malone
Children	Maya Brooke Eric
Alma mater	Columbia University (A.B.) Columbia Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Attorney at Law
Religion	Episcopal

Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first black American to hold the position,^[2] serving under President Barack Obama.

Holder previously served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and a United States Attorney. In that office he prosecuted Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (Democrat, Illinois) for corruption charges related to his role in the Congressional Post Office scandal. Later, he was Deputy Attorney General of the United States and worked at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He was senior legal advisor to then-Senator Barack Obama during Obama's presidential campaign and one of three members of Obama's vice-presidential selection committee.

Early life[link]

Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. was born in the Bronx, New York, to parents with roots in Barbados.^{[3][4][dead link][5]} Holder's father, Eric Himpton Holder, Sr. (1905–1970) was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados and arrived in the United States at the age of 11.^[6][7] He later became a real estate broker. His mother, Miriam, was born in New Jersey, while his maternal grandparents were immigrants from Saint Philip, Barbados.^[7] Holder grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and attended public school until the age of 10. When entering the 4th grade he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually gifted students.^[8] In 1969, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he played freshman basketball and was co-captain of his team. He earned a A.B. degree in American history in 1973.^[9] Holder received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, graduating in 1976. He worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during his first summer and the United States Attorney during his second summer.^[8]

Career[link]

After graduating from law school, Holder joined the U.S. Justice Department's new Public Integrity Section during an interval lasting from 1976 to 1988. During his time there, he assisted in the prosecution of Democratic Congressman John Jenrette for bribery discovered in the Abscam sting operation.^[10] In 1988, President Ronald Reagan appointed Holder to serve as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.^[11]

Holder stepped down from the bench in 1993 to accept an appointment as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from President Bill Clinton. He was the first black American U.S. Attorney in that office.^[8] At the beginning of his tenure, he oversaw the conclusion of the corruption case against Dan Rostenkowski, part of the Congressional Post Office scandal.^[10] He was a U.S. Attorney until his elevation to Deputy Attorney General in 1997. Holder also served on The George Washington University's Board of Trustees in 1996 and 1997.

Deputy Attorney General[link]

In 1997, after the retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno. Holder was confirmed several months later in the Senate by a unanimous vote.^[12] During his confirmation hearing, Holder's opposition to the death penalty was questioned, but he pledged his intention to cooperate with the current laws and Reno, saying, "I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us."^[13] Holder was the first black American to serve in that position.^[8] Holder briefly served as Acting Attorney General under President George W. Bush until the Senate confirmed Bush's nominee John Ashcroft.^[14]

As Deputy Attorney General, Holder advised Reno about how far to go in the Justice Department's use of the Independent Counsel statute. Reno made the decision to permit Kenneth Starr to expand his investigation into the Lewinsky affair, leading to Clinton's impeachment.^[8]

In his final days with the Clinton administration, Holder was involved with Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive and Democratic contributor Marc Rich. Between November 2000 and January 2001, Jack Quinn, Rich's lawyer and former White House Counsel from 1995 to 1996, had been contacting Holder, testing the waters for the political viability of a presidential pardon. Quinn asked Holder for advice as to how he should proceed. According to Rich's attorney, Holder advised Quinn to circumvent standard procedures by submitting the pardon petition directly to the White House.^[15]

After presenting his case to Holder in a November phone call and a last minute January 17 letter, Quinn arranged a phone call between the White House and Holder, asking the Deputy Attorney General to share his opinion on the Rich pardon. Holder gave Clinton a "neutral, leaning towards favorable" opinion of the pardon.^[8]

Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder opened an Interagency Working Group meeting of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders hosted by the Department of Justice on October 18, 2000.

During his February testimonies before the House Government Reform Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder argued his phone call was not intended as a formal Justice Department blessing of the pardon, saying, "my interaction with the White House, I did not view as a recommendation. because I didn't have the ability to look at all the materials that had been vetted through the way we normally vet materials."^[16] He also did not believe his opinion would be interpreted as a go-ahead for the pardon. "What I said to the White House counsel ultimately was that I was neutral on this because I didn't have a factual basis to make a determination as to whether or not Mr. Quinn's contentions were in fact accurate, whether or not there had been a change in the law, a change in the applicable Justice Department regulations, and whether or not that was something that would justify the extraordinary grant of a pardon."^[17] An investigation led by House Government Reform Committee chairman Dan Burton concluded in a 2003 report covering 177 Clinton pardons that Holder had played a significant role in facilitating the Rich pardon, first by recommending the well-connected Jack Quinn to Rich's legal representatives, by failing to fully inform prosecutors of the pending pardon, and by eventually delivering a "neutral leaning favorable" opinion to Clinton from a position of authority.^[18] Holder has expressed some regret over his handling of the Rich pardon, stating "I wish I had done some things differently with regard to the Marc Rich matter. Specifically, I wish that I had ensured that the Department of Justice was more fully informed and involved in this pardon process", and called his own actions a "mistake".^[19]

Official photo as Deputy Attorney General, ca. 2000

Holder was also involved in Clinton's decision to reduce the criminal sentences of 16 members of the Boricua Popular Army, an organization that has been categorized by the FBI as a terrorist organization. The clemency request was initially opposed in 1996 by U.S. Pardons Attorney Margaret Love. When Holder was elevated to Deputy Attorney General in 1997, he was asked to reexamine the issue by three members of Congress. In July 1999, Holder recommended clemency to Clinton with a report from then U.S. Pardons Attorney Roger Adams that neither supported nor opposed clemency. A month later, Clinton granted clemency. According to The Hartford Courant, the grant of clemency was unusual because it was opposed by the FBI, the federal prosecutor and the victims. According to the newspaper, it was also unusual because before the commutations, the Boricua Popular Army members were not required to repudiate their actions and were not asked to provide any information concerning the whereabouts of Victor Manuel Gerena, a co-conspirator and one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, or the millions of dollars stolen by the group in a 1983 robbery of Wells Fargo in West Hartford, Connecticut.^[20]

Private practice[link]

From 2001 until he became Attorney General, Holder worked as an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., representing clients such as Merck and the National Football League.^[3][8] He represented the NFL during its dog fighting investigation against Michael Vick.^[21]

In 2004, Holder helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita's payment of "protection money" to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations.^[22][23] In the agreement, Chiquita's officials pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $25 million. Holder represented Chiquita in the civil action that grew out of this criminal case.^[23]

In March 2004, Holder and Covington & Burling were hired by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to act as a special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board. The Gaming Board had voted 4-1 earlier that month to allow a casino to be built in Rosemont, Illinois. That vote defied the recommendation of the board's staff, which had raised concerns about alleged organized-crime links to the Rosemont casino's developer. The move had also raised concerns that the governor had named his close friend and fund-raiser, Christopher Kelly, as a "special government agent" to be involved in official state negotiations about the casino. Holder's legal work for the State of Illinois never materialized when the board reversed its decision and refused to hire Kelly. The investigation was subsequently canceled on May 18, 2004.^[24]

The firm represented Guantanamo inmates but Holder "never participated directly in the firm's Guantanamo work", and is not expected to recuse himself from matters pertaining to it.^[25]

While D.C. v. Heller was being heard by the Supreme Court in 2008, Holder joined the Reno-led amicus brief, which urged the Supreme Court to uphold Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban and said the position of the Department of Justice, from Franklin Roosevelt through Clinton, was that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms for purposes unrelated to a State’s operation of a well-regulated militia.^[26] Holder said that overturning the 1976 law "opens the door to more people having more access to guns and putting guns on the streets."^[27]

In 2008, Holder represented the wife of Robert Wone, victim of a controversial and unsolved 2006 murder.^[28]

Holder speaking at a press conference on Guantanamo Bay detainees

In late 2007, Holder joined then-United States Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor. He served on Obama's vice presidential selection committee.^[11]

Holder favors closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, although he said in 2002 that the detainees are not technically entitled to Geneva Convention protections.^[29][30] He is opposed to the Bush administration's implementation of the Patriot Act, saying it is "bad ultimately for law enforcement and will cost us the support of the American people."^[31][32] 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."^[33]

Attorney General of the United States[link]

On December 1, 2008, Obama announced that Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General.^[34][35] He was formally nominated on January 20, 2009 and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28.^[36][37] Following his confirmation by the full Senate on February 2, 2009, he became the first African-American Attorney General of the United States. His installation took place on March 27, 2009 at the Lisner Auditorium of the George Washington University.

During his confirmation hearings in the Senate, Holder agreed with Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, that a technique used by U.S. interrogators under the Bush administration known as waterboarding is torture.^[38] Holder was confirmed by a 75-21 vote on February 2, 2009.^[39]

Holder gave a speech on race relations on February 18, 2009, in the midst of Black History Month. "Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race," he said.^[40] The speech stirred mild controversy, with some reacting favorably to Holder's comments and others sharply criticizing them.^[41][42] Obama rebuked Holder's comments, saying that “I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language”.^[43]

When questioned about weapons regulations during a news conference to announce the arrest of Mexican drug cartel members, Holder stated that the Obama administration would seek to re-institute the expired Assault Weapons Ban, which he strongly supports.^[44][45]

After the U.S. government filed suit against the Swiss bank UBS AG, whom Holder had represented during his time in private practice, the attorney general recused himself from all legal matters concerning the bank, which stands accused of conspiracy in U.S. tax fraud.^[46][47]

On April 1, 2009, Holder announced that he had ordered the dismissal of the indictment against former Senator Ted Stevens on corruption charges. Stevens had been found guilty, but hadn't been sentenced; Holder's action effectively vacated Stevens' conviction. Holder was reportedly very angry that the prosecutors had withheld potentially exculpatory evidence from Stevens' attorneys. After the prosecutors had been held in contempt of court for failing to turn over required documents, Holder replaced the entire trial team. Soon afterward, the Justice Department discovered a previously undocumented interview with Bill Allen, the prosecution's star witness. In this interview, Allen gave statements that directly contradicted his testimony at trial, including a claim that he'd been asked to get a note for a repair bill on his house. By nearly all accounts, Holder wanted to send a message that he would not tolerate any behavior he deemed to be prosecutorial misconduct.^[48]

Holder presented friend and predecessor Janet Reno, Attorney General under the Clinton Administration, the American Judicature Society's (AJS) Justice Award on April 17, 2009. The award is the highest given by the AJS, and recognizes significant contributions toward improvements in the administration of justice within the United States.^[49]

On November 13, 2009, Holder announced that accused September 11 attack conspirators Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi would be transferred from the military commissions system to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for trial. He also expressed confidence that an impartial jury would be found "to ensure a fair trial in New York".^[50]

Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 14, 2010, "No final decision has been made about the forum which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants will be tried. As I said at the outset, this is a very close call."^[51]

However, in early April 2011 Holder announced that the 9/11 co-conspirators will be tried by a military tribunal. "Holder said that he believes the trials could have been held in New York or Virginia, but that Congress imposed restrictions on where the trial could be held, taking the decision from his hands." ^[52]

In May 2010 Holder expressed "concerns" about "Arizona’s tough new immigration law", saying that it might "lead to racial profiling". Holder was criticized for his testimony during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, when he said that he had "not read" the Arizona law and that he had formed his opinions on the basis of news reports.^[53][54][55] In July 2010, Holder stated that the Justice Department filed suit against the Arizona law because it is preempted by federal law. Holder was quoted as saying, "I understand, first off, the frustration of the people of Arizona and the concerns that they have with regard to the amount of illegal immigration that occurs, but the solution that the Arizona legislature came up with is inconsistent with our federal Constitution."^[56]

In July 2010, Holder flew to Kampala, Uganda, to address the Heads of State Summit of the African Union, where he discussed the Obama Administration's priorities with regards to Africa and the terrorist bombings in Kampala during the World Cup.^[57][58]

Before the November 2010 elections, Holder stated that he planned to prosecute people in California if they possess marijuana even if Californian voters passed a proposition legalizing marijuana (Proposition 19).^[59] Proposition 19 was ultimately defeated.

After the United States diplomatic cables leak in December 2010, Holder said that "We have an active, ongoing, criminal investigation with regard to this matter," Holder said. "We are not in a position as yet to announce the result of that investigation, but the investigation is--is ongoing. To the extent that we can find anybody who was involved in the breaking of American law and who has put at risk the assets and the people that I have described, they will be held responsible," Holder said. "They will be held accountable." Holder's comments leave open a crucial question, which is whether the investigators are looking at how WikiLeaks obtained the documents (not unlike probing a news organization's source), or if they're looking at whether WikiLeaks staffers violated criminal law and should be the ones indicted.^[60]

In March 2011 Holder left open the possibility that the Guantánamo Bay terrorist prison camp might live on beyond President Obama’s first term. Asked in a congressional hearing whether the prison would be closed by November 2012, Holder said: "I don’t know". He said the Justice Department has established a task force to look at each of the 172 detainees being held at the Guantánamo prison to address how they should be dealt with. Holder’s comments come just weeks after CIA Director Leon Panetta told a Senate panel that Osama bin Laden would probably be shipped to and held at the Guantánamo Bay facility if he were captured.^[61]

Controversies[link]

In May 2009, Holder's Department of Justice ended a civil suit originally brought by the Bush administration against the New Black Panther Party, its chairman, and two of its members for voter intimidation due to their conduct during the 2008 election. Two members of the party had stood outside a polling station during the election in paramilitary uniforms, one of them carrying a billy club. Although none of the defendants appeared in court to contest the charges, the department of justice voluntarily dropped the charges against the party, its chairman, and one of the two members who had stood outside the polling station, and obtained a narrow injunction against the other. While the Department of Justice has contended that the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, several of its current and former members have stated that Holder's Department of Justice is unwilling to prosecute minorities for civil rights violations.^[62] This accusation has been made most notably by J. Christian Adams, who in May 2010 resigned his post at the Department of Justice out of protest,^[63] and by his former supervisor Christopher Coates.^[64]

J. Christian Adams and former Bush appointee Hans A. von Spakovsky have also accused the civil rights division in Holder's Department of Justice of inactivity and wastefulness. According to Adams and von Spakovsky, although the voting section has hired dozens of new attorneys, the number of actual cases filed has declined sharply since Holder took office, and many of its employees spend their time "playing computer Solitaire, watching videos, and venting at the lack of activity."^[65][66]

During a meeting with a House subcommittee discussing this and other issues, Holder has argued that the behavior from the New Black Panther Party was not comparable to historical voter intimidation against minorities, stating "When you compare what people endured in the South in the ’60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, to compare what people subjected to that with what happened in Philadelphia… I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line for my people."^[67] Critics have interpreted this comment as evidence of racial bias on Holder's part, with James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal arguing "If he approaches the job with the attitude that any group smaller than all Americans is 'my people,' he is the wrong man for the position."^[68]

Holder has faced additional controversy for the Obama Administration's decision that his Department of Justice would no longer enforce certain provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, which Representative Frank Wolf has described as a "decision to abandon your duty to defend this law."^[69]

House oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent Holder a letter in May 2011 asking for details about Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF operation that sent thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels. Tax money may have been used to purchase the guns ^[70][71] Grassley and Issa, "have urged Holder to cooperate and turn over subpoenaed records that would reveal the scope of the government coverup." ^[72] In October 2011, documents were released^[73] that indicated Holder was sent memos in regards to Operation Fast and Furious in 2010,^[74] contradicting Holder's sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in which he said he was unaware of Operation Fast and Furious until April 2011.^[75][76] In April 2012, Issa announced that his committee was drafting a Contempt of Congress resolution against Holder in response to the committee being "stonewalled by the Justice Department."^[77]

In response, Lamar Smith, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to President Obama, requesting the appointment of an independent special counsel to investigate whether Holder committed perjury by lying to the committee while under oath. ^[78][79][80]

Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has written in the Washington Times that, "It is time for Mr. Holder to go." because of his role in Operation Fast and Furious. Perry stated that, "America simply cannot tolerate an attorney general who arms the very criminals he is supposed to protect us from".^[81]

Personal life[link]

Holder is married to Dr. Sharon Malone, an obstetrician; the couple have three children.^[82] Malone's sister was Vivian Malone Jones, famous for her part in the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door which led to integration at the University of Alabama.^[83] Holder has been involved with various mentoring programs for inner-city youths. He is also an avid basketball fan,^[84] and the uncle of former NBA All-Star Jeff Malone.^[21]

Awards[link]

In June 2009 the Government of Barbados announced that it would begin a project to determine the first 100 Great Barbadians which would be selected among the public of Barbados. At the announcement of the project it was announced that Eric Holder was the first candidate to be nominated toward the final list.^[85]

On May 16, 2010, Eric Holder presented the commencement address at Boston University, for both the All-University Ceremony and the School of Law. In addition, he was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.^[86] On May 19, 2009, Holder was chosen by his alma mater, Columbia College, to be its Class Day Speaker.^[87]

References[link]