Senate Confirms 1st Black Deputy Attorney General

WASHINGTON — Eric H. Holder Jr. won unanimous Senate confirmation Thursday to the Justice Department’s No. 2 post, where he will be the highest-ranking black law-enforcement official in the nation’s history.

Holder, 46, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia since 1993, will be deputy attorney general, replacing Jamie S. Gorelick. She resigned in the spring.

Although there was no controversy over Holder, Republican leaders had delayed his vote until after the confirmation of Joel Klein as assistant attorney general for antitrust. Klein was approved 88-12, with only Democrats voting against him.

The Democrats who opposed Klein’s nomination contended he has inadequately enforced antitrust laws in connection with the 1996 Telecommunications Act while holding the job on a temporary basis. He moved up from deputy to acting antitrust chief after the previous assistant attorney general for antitrust, Anne K. Bingaman, left last October.