A child of the civil rights era, Mr. Holder was shaped by images of violence in Selma, Ala. He joined sit-ins at Columbia University, where protesters renamed an office after Malcolm X. He has frequently spoken in personal terms about civil rights, including about his experiences as a prosecutor in Washington and as a college student, when he was stopped by the police.
As attorney general, he has pushed to change what he sees as fundamental inequities in the criminal justice system. He told prosecutors not to seek long sentences for low-level crime, and he pushed to eliminate those sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. He has joined with liberal Democrats and libertarian-minded Republicans to advocate for the most sweeping liberalization of sentencing laws since the beginning of the War on Drugs.
Early this week, Mr. Holder announced that the federal prison population declined this year for the first time since 1980. He projected the decline would continue for the next two years.
Attorney General Eric Holder, Prominent Liberal Voice in Obama Administration, Is Resigning - NYTimes.com
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