Eric Holder said yesterday that he would step down as US attorney general, setting up a potentially Senate showdown to confirm a successor who can tackle a long list of pending challenges at the Justice Department.
Holder, an unapologetic liberal voice and one of President Barack Obama´s closest allies, will remain in office until a successor is nominated and confirmed. His nearly six-year term, marked by civil rights advances and frequent fights with Congress, made him one of the nation´s longest serving attorneys generals.
“I will never leave the work. I will continue to serve,” Holder, with Obama at his side, said during a brief White House announcement of his departure.
The next attorney general will face many challenges, including managing counter-terror initiatives aimed at IS militants, balancing privacy rights against government surveillance efforts, and deciding whether to continue attempts to prosecute former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, now living in Russia, for revealing surveillance secrets.
