Eric H. Holder Jr., U.S. attorney general, is stepping down

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., the first African American to fill the nation's top law enforcement post, announced Thursday he was stepping down, ending a nearly six-year tenure as one of the Obama administration's most progressive voices and polarizing figures.

Holder, 63, leaves an impressive legacy on civil rights and criminal justice reforms, but one that took shape relatively late in his tumultuous term, which was initially dominated by political battles and a contempt citation from Congress. The former federal prosecutor and close friend of President Obama becomes one of the last original members of the Cabinet to resign.

At an emotional gathering in the White House State Dining Room, Holder, who came of age during the 1960s civil rights struggle, invoked his boyhood hero, former U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy, and called his time at the Justice Department the greatest honor of my professional life.

I hope I have done honor to your legacy, Mr. President, Holder said, choking up while recalling the support of his parents. I will leave the Department of Justice, but I will never, ever leave the work.

A formal announcement about Holder's replacement is not expected until early next week. Holder has agreed to stay on until a nominee is confirmed.

Names already being tossed around inside the White House and the halls of Congress include Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli Jr.; Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in New York who handles bank fraud and terrorism cases; Janet Napolitano, former Homeland Security secretary; former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler; Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cole, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department; and Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney in New York who now leads the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two other potential successors, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, said Thursday they had no plans to take the job.

The likely battle over Holder's replacement sets the stage for a partisan power struggle that is likely to extend into the post-election lame-duck session of Congress or beyond. The administration hopes to win a quick confirmation from the Democratic-controlled Senate in the coming months, but some Republicans who are betting they will seize control of the Senate in the November election are already calling for the confirmation to be pushed into next year.

Holder, who had hinted for months that he was planning to leave, came to the Justice Department in the winter of 2009 as the 82nd attorney general, a figure well-versed in the difficult, sometimes delicate, task of running a sprawling law enforcement agency after earlier serving as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.

He pleased Democrats by reinvigorating the Justice Department's efforts on civil rights, same-sex marriage, voting protections and prosecution of abusive police officers.

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Eric H. Holder Jr., U.S. attorney general, is stepping down