Eric Holder is close to becoming America’s first African-American attorney general after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination on Wednesday. The committee’s members voted 17-2 to confirm him.

Holder, a deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton, will help President Barack Obama in his effort to close the detention camp in Guantanamo, Cuba, which has become a symbol of United States’ abuses in fighting international terrorism. 

The full Senate will vote on Holder’s nomination on Monday, but the vote of the Judiciary Committee shows that he has a strong support and he will probably be easily confirmed to the post.

The only senators who voted against Holder were Republicans John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Cornyn cited Holder’s role in the controversial pardons issued by President Bill Clinton during his mandate and the fact that, under his lead, the Justice Department wouldn’t be independent from the White House.

Holder won support from many Senate members for his declaration that waterboarding as an interrogation technique is torture. He was also appreciated by the Senate because he admitted he made a mistake when leaning in favor of President Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

"Eric Holder is a good man, a decent man, a public servant committed to the rule of law," Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D., Vt.) said.

Until Mr. Holder takes the new post (this should happen by Thursday) outgoing Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip is serving as acting attorney general.