Three blacks trailblaze in district attorney posts - recently confirmed U.S. attorneys Gaynelle Jones, Vickie LaGrange, and Eric Holder

Jet, Oct 18, 1993

The long-awaited "rainbow effect" in the nation's law enforcement program began to take shape as three Blacks were confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first of their race ever to serve as U.S. Attorneys in the nation's capital, Texas, and Oklahoma.

With more than a hundred district attorney and federal judge-ships still unfilled, President Clinton has the opportunity to carry out even more of one of his campaign promises--to open the federal law enforcement ranks to minorities and women." Key positions still vacant are the Justice Department's civil rights legal post and the chairmanship of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Scheduled to be sworn in October 15th in Washington's federal courthouse, former D.C. Superior Court Judge Eric Holder is described by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton as "representing a historic milestone." She said, "He is the first U.S. attorney to be chosen by (Black) Washingtonians."

For decades, Black D.C. voters campaigned for political administrations to "select Blacks in the crucial law enforcement post, the most powerful district attorney post in the country because it not only handles cases involving D.C. citizens but members of the judiciary, congressional and executive branches."

In fact, the first case District Attorney Holder must decide is whether to prosecute Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D., Ill.) for possible involvement in a House stamp scandal.

Political leaders in Houston already sing the praises of President Clinton as Atty. Gaynelle Griffin Jones prepares to take over as U.S. attorney for the southern district, the nation's sixth largest and most prominent in immigration cases. She will manage a staff of 130 lawyers in six offices covering an area of 43 counties.

Giving up her elective post as a state senator, Vickie Miles-LaGrange was confirmed as U.S. attorney for the western district of Oklahoma. Serving in the state Senate for nine years, Atty. Miles-LaGrange also has a record which includes serving as the assistant district attorney of Oklahoma County, and a Federal Court law clerk. For one summer, she reported for one of the city's TV stations.

A graduate of Vassar College in Puoghkeepsie, N.Y., she finished Howard University law school and studied one summer at the University of Ghana.

She was recommended for the post by U.S. Sen. David Boren (D., Okla.).