Attorney General Eric Holder has announced he will resign, the challenging task of finding a replacement who can win Senate confirmation begins for President Obama. Holder, an Obama confidant and original Cabinet member, said Thursday he will depart the Justice Department as soon as his successor is confirmed. President Obama’s announcement on Thursday that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. would leave the administration sets up an election-season scramble for a replacement to carry on Mr. Holder’s civil rights crusade, wage rhetorical combat with Congress and manage the legal complexities of a presidency increasingly drawn into war with terrorists. One of the earliest members of Mr. Obama’s cabinet, Mr. Holder, 63, became the nation’s first African-American attorney general and the president’s chief liberal warrior, especially on efforts to protect voter rights and end racial discrimination in the justice system. He also emerged as the primary political antagonist for a Republican opposition in Congress that viewed him as dismissive of existing laws and contemptuous of its oversight of his department. That still-simmering anger among Republicans, who once voted to hold Mr. Holder in contempt of Congress, could be a political nightmare for Mr. Obama as he searches for a replacement who can win confirmation in the Senate. Democrats on Capitol Hill are bracing for attacks on any nominee involved in what Republicans consider scandals: political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service, the terrorist attacks on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi or the numerous executive actions by Mr. Obama circumventing Congress. Holder told a televised White House gathering that he has 'very mixed emotions' about his departure, which is on hold until his replacement can win Senate confirmation. But he had heartfelt words for his longtime friend, the president. 'We have been great colleagues,' he said of Obama, following a firm embrace, 'but the bonds between us have been much greater than that. ... You have been there for me. I'm proud to call you my friend.' Holder also lauded his 'good friend,' presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, the third leg in a stool comprised of ambitious black Americans who sought and grabbed the reins of power in 2008.
'Work remains to be done,' Holder said, sniffling with emotion, 'but the list of our accomplishments is real.' Obama told his audience that Holder had toiled for decades in public service 'to make sure that those words, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," are made real for all of us.' He was referring to the AG's family history. 'Eric’s father was an immigrant who served in the Army in World War II,' the president explained, 'only to be refused service at lunch counters in the nation he defended.' 'But he and his wife raised their son to believe that this country’s promise was real, and that son grew up to become Attorney General of the United States. And that’s something.'
'And that’s why Eric has worked so hard – not just in my administration, but for decades – to open up the promise of this country to more striving, dreaming kids like him,' Obama said. The question of who will replace Holder is an open one. Top candidates include Don Verrilli, the U.S. solicitor general who successfully defended the Obamacare law before the Supreme Court; former White House counsel Kathryn Rummler; and former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The White House told a select few reporters of the impending announcement on Thursday morning. Almost immediately civil right activist Al Sharpton, a liberal host on MSNBC, said the administration was consulting with him about who should be the next top dog at the Justice Department.
'We are engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder,' Sharpton said Thursday. Washington tongue-waggers speculated all afternoon that Holder might be leaving in order to prepare himself for a Supreme Court nomination. The next attorney general nominee will likely have an easy confirmation hearing, since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has changed the rules so that only a simple majority – 51 votes รพ is required to close debate and call a vote. The previous rules, however, which hinge on a required supermajority of 60 senators, still apply to Supreme Court nominees. Another Holder nomination would be welcomed with a chorus of raspberries from the political right. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Thursday after the Obama-Holder love fest that the attorney general 'lost the public’s trust years ago. His departure is overdue.' 'His politicization of the Justice Department was inexcusable, and his handling of issues ... was unacceptable.'
Sharpton, however, told Business Insider that Holder's resignation 'is met with both pride and disappointment by the civil rights community.' 'We are proud that he has been the best attorney general on civil rights in U.S. history and disappointed because he leaves at a critical time when we need his continued diligence most." National Public Radio was first to report the news of Holder's decision to go. 'This afternoon, the president will announce the departure of Attorney General Eric Holder,' a White House official said in a statement. 'After serving for nearly six years as the head of the Justice Department, Holder is the first African American to be Attorney General of the United States and will be the fourth longest person to hold the position.' 'Holder’s accomplishments have established a historic legacy of civil rights enforcement and restoring fairness to the criminal justice system,' the official continued. 'Holder revitalized the Department’s praised Civil Rights Division, protected the rights of the LGBT community, successfully prosecuted terrorists, and fought tirelessly for voting rights, to name a few. He will remain at the Department of Justice until his post is filled.' Separately, a DOJ official said Thursday morning that Holder had 'discussed his plans personally with the president on multiple occasions in recent months, and finalized those plans in an hour-long conversation with the president at the White House residence over Labor Day weekend.'
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