U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to step down some time this year, according to the New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin, whose feature story is slated to run in the magazine's Feb. 17 issue, the Washington Times reports.
The first African-American attorney general told the writer that he planned to remain "well into" 2014, but he also told CBS News last year, on Nov. 19, that he didn't have "any plans" to step down, the Washington Times reports.
Holder, a graduate of Columbia Law School, first joined the U.S. Justice Department in 1976 and was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1988 by President Ronald Regan. He would later join the Clinton administration as a Deputy Attorney General in 1997, the first African-American to hold that position. After the Clinton years, Holder practiced at a private firm before joining the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
During his tenure as attorney general, Holder has been instrumental in several landmark cases and decisions on policy. The Washington Times notes that he has been a vocal critic of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the Voting Rights Act and has made voting rights the test case of his tenure. Holder was also influential in assuring that gay Americans have the same rights as heterosexual couples when filing bankruptcy, testifying in court or visiting partners in prison, regardless of whether a state recognizes same-sex marriage.
In November, 20 House Republicans filed articles for impeachment against Holder after he was found in contempt of Congress for failing to release documents related to Operation Fast and Furious, the Washington Times reports.
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