Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Federal Government, Politics

Sources Say Eric Holder Will Step Down

You won't have Eric Holder to kick around anymore.

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NPR has a breaking scoop. Sources report that Attorney General Eric Holder will announce his resignation today.

Holder is one of the longest-serving members of Obama’s cabinet. People have called him the most “racially divisive” AG in history. In related news, he’s also African-American, a fact that has really seemed to piss some people off.

It’s been a few weeks without a manufactured “scandal” landing on his desk, so maybe now is a good time to go back to private practice and make millions of dollars?

NPR reports that Holder decided on his own to step down:

In the end, the decision to leave was Holder’s alone — the two sources tell NPR the White House would have been happy to have him stay a full eight years and to avoid what could be a contentious nomination fight for his successor. Holder and President Obama discussed his departure several times and finalized things in a long meeting over Labor Day weekend at the White House.

Six years is quite a long time in that job. It would have been surprising if he had stayed for all eight. Holder used to be a partner at Covington & Burling, and I imagine that partners at any Biglaw office would happily pay him a ton of money to join their firm.

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Apparently, another media darling (sarcasm!) is poised to take over:

The sources say a leading candidate for that job is Solicitor General Don Verrilli, the administration’s top representative to the Supreme Court and a lawyer whose judgment and discretion are prized in both DOJ and the White House.

Verrilli was bashed by the left for his Supreme Court oral argument skills. But, as a white man, it will be harder for Republicans to call him a racist. It should make for an interesting nomination fight.

I’ve said before that having a black attorney general turned out to be more important than having a black president. Holder will be missed — and tarnished by the right, even on his way out.

UPDATE (12:15 p.m.): The Justice Department has confirmed the news. Also, for the record, Holder previously said that 2014 would be his last year as AG (as told to Jeffrey Toobin back in February).

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Eric Holder To Step Down As Attorney General [NPR]

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