President Barack Obama’s two confirmed Attorneys General were Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Holder was sworn in on February 3, 2009, as the 82nd Attorney General and served until April 27, 2015, one of the longest tenures in the history of the office.1United States Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. Lynch, the 83rd Attorney General, was confirmed by the Senate on April 23, 2015, and stayed through the end of the administration.2U.S. Senate. U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 114th Congress – 1st Session Between them, they shaped federal policy on drug sentencing, voting rights, police accountability, financial crisis enforcement, and the collision between encryption and law enforcement.
Eric Holder, 2009 to 2015
Holder’s six years at the Justice Department produced a wide policy footprint and one of the most contentious relationships with Congress in the office’s modern history.
The Smart on Crime Initiative
In August 2013, Holder launched the “Smart on Crime” initiative, directing federal prosecutors to stop triggering mandatory minimum prison sentences for low-level drug defendants who had no ties to cartels or gangs, no violent history, and no leadership role in a criminal organization.3Department of Justice. The Attorney Generals Smart on Crime Initiative Prosecutors were told to leave specific drug quantities out of charging documents for defendants who met those criteria, because listing the quantity was what locked in the mandatory sentence.4United States Department of Justice. Department Policy on Charging Mandatory Minimum Sentences and Recidivist Enhancements in Certain Drug Cases
The initiative also pushed U.S. Attorney’s offices to develop local guidelines focused on cases with clear federal interests rather than absorbing prosecutions that state courts could handle. A later Inspector General review found the initiative had shifted charging patterns, with more districts adopting written criteria for federal drug prosecutions.5Oversight.gov. Review of the Departments Implementation of Prosecution and Sentencing Reform Principles Under the Smart on Crime Initiative
Voting Rights Litigation After Shelby County
The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder struck down the coverage formula that determined which states had to get federal approval before changing election rules. That preclearance system, rooted in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, had been the government’s main tool for stopping discriminatory changes before they took effect.6Justia. Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
Holder’s Justice Department pivoted to Section 2 of the Act, which allows challenges to voting practices after enactment. The department sued North Carolina in September 2013 over its omnibus election law and sued Texas in August 2013 over its photo voter identification law, alleging in each case that the laws were adopted with the purpose of limiting minority voter participation.7Department of Justice. Cases Raising Claims Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act After-the-fact litigation was slower and more resource-intensive than preclearance, but it became the department’s principal path for voting rights enforcement.
Police Pattern-or-Practice Investigations
Federal law, now codified at 34 U.S.C. § 12601, lets the Attorney General investigate whether a police department engages in a pattern of conduct that violates constitutional rights, and seek court orders requiring reform.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 12601 – Cause of Action Holder used the authority aggressively, opening investigations of departments in Ferguson, Cleveland, Baltimore, Albuquerque, and other cities.9United States Department of Justice. Conduct of Law Enforcement Agencies
When investigators found systemic problems, the usual outcome was a consent decree: a court-enforced agreement requiring the department to overhaul training, track use-of-force data, tighten internal accountability, and engage with the community, with a federal judge supervising compliance for years. The Ferguson investigation, opened after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, produced a report documenting revenue-driven policing practices that fell disproportionately on Black residents.
Declining to Defend DOMA
In February 2011, Holder announced that the Justice Department would no longer defend Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. In a letter to Congress, he wrote that the President had concluded classifications based on sexual orientation warranted heightened constitutional scrutiny, and that DOMA’s definition of marriage as between a man and a woman failed that standard.10Department of Justice. Statement of the Attorney General on Litigation Involving the Defense of Marriage Act The department acknowledged its longstanding practice of defending enacted federal statutes but noted it had declined to do so before in cases where no reasonable constitutional argument could be made.11United States Department of Justice. Letter from the Attorney General to Congress on Litigation Involving the Defense of Marriage Act
House Republicans took over the statute’s defense through the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group. The Supreme Court struck down Section 3 in United States v. Windsor in 2013.
Bank Settlements Over the Mortgage Crisis
Through the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, formed in 2012, the Justice Department investigated how major banks packaged and sold toxic mortgage-backed securities to investors while concealing the underlying loan quality. Settlements with more than a dozen banks recovered over $36 billion in total.12Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General. UBS Agrees to Pay 1.435 Billion for Fraud in the Sale of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities
The largest single resolution was a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America in 2014, which included a $9.65 billion cash penalty and $7 billion in consumer relief for struggling homeowners.13Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General. Bank of America to Pay 16.65 Billion in Historic Justice Department Settlement Goldman Sachs agreed to pay over $5 billion in 2016, including a $2.385 billion civil penalty under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act.14United States Department of Justice. Goldman Sachs Agrees to Pay More Than 5 Billion in Connection with Its Sale of Residential Mortgage Backed Securities JPMorgan, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse also reached settlements. Critics argued the resolutions were too lenient because no senior executives faced criminal prosecution.
Operation Fast and Furious and the Contempt Vote
An ATF operation run out of the Phoenix office, known as Fast and Furious, used a gun-walking strategy that allowed roughly 2,000 firearms bought by suspected straw buyers in Arizona to flow into Mexico without being seized, with the goal of tracing them to cartel networks. The strategy collapsed after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010 and two firearms linked to the operation were recovered at the scene.
The Justice Department sent Congress a letter in February 2011 denying that gun-walking tactics had been used, then withdrew the letter ten months later as inaccurate. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed internal documents covering that period. Holder refused to produce them, the President asserted executive privilege, and on June 28, 2012, the House voted 255 to 67 to hold Holder in criminal contempt of Congress, the first such vote against a sitting cabinet member.15Congress.gov. H.Res.711 – 112th Congress (2011-2012) The referral went to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who reported to Holder, so no criminal prosecution followed.
Loretta Lynch, 2015 to 2017
Lynch came to the role from two stints as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Her confirmation took longer than any cabinet nominee in three decades and passed 56 to 43.2U.S. Senate. U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 114th Congress – 1st Session In under two years she oversaw a landmark international corruption prosecution, extended the department’s police reform work, and litigated a major encryption dispute.
The FIFA Corruption Case
Within weeks of taking office, Lynch announced a sweeping indictment against officials in FIFA, soccer’s global governing body. The initial 47-count indictment charged 14 defendants with long-running conspiracies involving bribery, racketeering, and money laundering tied to marketing rights for international soccer tournaments. A superseding 92-count indictment added 16 more defendants.16United States Department of Justice. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Delivers Remarks at Press Conference Announcing Law Enforcement Action Related to FIFA
Because the defendants had routed payments through U.S. banks and used American financial infrastructure, federal prosecutors had jurisdiction even though the soccer organizations were headquartered abroad. The case produced guilty pleas and convictions over multiple years.
Continued Police Oversight
Lynch’s department opened or completed major reviews of police departments in Baltimore, Chicago, and other cities, releasing reports that documented excessive force, racially biased stops, and weak internal accountability.9United States Department of Justice. Conduct of Law Enforcement Agencies Where investigations confirmed systemic violations, the department negotiated consent decrees requiring revised use-of-force policies, better data tracking, independent monitoring, and structured community engagement.17U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney General Lynch – Use-of-Force Data Is Vital for Transparency and Accountability
The Baltimore consent decree, which followed the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody, became one of the most comprehensive police reform agreements in the department’s history. Federal judges enforced these agreements over multi-year timelines.
The Apple Encryption Fight
In early 2016, the Justice Department went to court seeking an order to compel Apple to help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooting perpetrators. The department relied on the All Writs Act of 1789, arguing it gave courts broad authority to require third-party assistance in criminal investigations. Apple publicly refused, saying that building a tool to bypass its own encryption would create a backdoor compromising the security of every iPhone.18United States Department of Justice. Decoding Pandoras Box – All Writs Act and Separation of Powers
The case never produced a ruling. Before the judge decided, the FBI said it had found a third party capable of accessing the phone, and the government withdrew its motion. The underlying legal question of whether the government can compel a technology company to defeat its own security features remains unresolved.
Acting Attorneys General at the Transitions
Two officials briefly served in an acting capacity during the transitions into and out of the Obama administration. Mark Filip, the 33rd Deputy Attorney General under President George W. Bush, held the role from January 20 to February 3, 2009, until Holder was sworn in.19United States Department of Justice. Deputy Attorney General – Mark R. Filip
Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General since 2015, became Acting Attorney General on January 20, 2017, after Lynch’s departure. Her tenure lasted ten days. On January 30, 2017, President Trump fired Yates after she ordered Justice Department lawyers not to defend his executive order temporarily banning entry from seven majority-Muslim countries; the White House said she had “betrayed the Department of Justice.” Dana Boente, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, replaced her until Jeff Sessions was confirmed.20United States Department of Justice. Deputy Attorney General – Sally Q. Yates