Former AG Eric Holder to deliver UW commencement speech

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By Steve Schuster
[email protected]

Former Attorney General Eric Holder will speak at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Spring commencement ceremony, according to written statement from the university.

“It will be a great honor to welcome Attorney General Holder to Camp Randall,” said Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin. “He is an accomplished attorney and internationally recognized leader with an impressive history of public service. I know his charge to our graduates will be thought-provoking and inspiring.”

Holder will speak at noon on May 13 at Camp Randall Stadium. The ceremony is for all bachelor’s, master’s and law degree candidates. The ceremony for doctoral, MFA and medical professional degree candidates will be at 5:30 p.m. on May 12 at the Kohl Center.

In 2014, Time Magazine named Holder to its list of the 100 Most Influential People, noting that he had “worked tirelessly to ensure equal justice.” In 2015, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund named him the recipient of its Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his lifelong efforts to advance civil rights, according to the statement.

Prior to becoming attorney general, Holder worked as an investigator and prosecutor of official corruption for the U.S. Department of Justice, as a judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. From 2001 until his confirmation as attorney general, Holder was a partner at Covington & Burling LLP. He rejoined the firm in 2015. He currently serves as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Commencement speakers are selected by the senior class officers in consultation with the Chancellor’s Office. The university covers the speaker’s travel expenses but does not pay a fee or other honorarium.

Holder has visited UW–Madison’s campus before, notably as the keynote speaker for the 2016 UW Law School hooding ceremony. In 2020, his daughter, Brooke, earned a bachelor’s degree in history from UW.

Holder, who previously served as attorney general from 2009 to 2015 was recently in Wisconsin, stumping for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and Wisconsin Senate candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin.

In a speech in Milwaukee at a Protasiewicz campaign event April 1, Holder said Wisconsin compares with Texas as far as the most gerrymandered state in the nation.

“When you get compared to Texas when it comes to electoral things, that’s not a good thing,” Holder said, noting that, “Texas is the hardest state in the country in which to vote. You don’t want to be there,” he said.

“Let’s go back to the old Wisconsin, the pre-Scott Walker Wisconsin where people actually have an opportunity to decide who’s going to represent them, because in this gerrymandered state you have folks who are supporting special interests against the desires of the people,” Holder said, noting that electing Protasiewicz will bring justice back to the Badger state.