Story highlights Holder formally announces his resignation

Job the "greatest honor of my professional life"

House Speaker John Boehner says Holder's departure "long overdue"

Obama administration points to Holder's work on LGBT issues, terrorism

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that he will resign after six years at the helm of the Justice Department.

Holder has agreed to remain in his post until the confirmation of his successor.

"In the months ahead I will leave the Department of Justice," Holder said at the White House, thanking President Barack Obama for the "greatest honor of my professional life."

Though he's stepping down, Holder said that "he will never leave the work."

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"I will continue to serve and try to find ways to make our nation even more true to its founding ideals," he said, without offering any specifics.

Obama stood next to Holder in the White House State Dining Room, praising the first African-American to serve as attorney general and who made civil rights and equal rights central components to his tenure at Justice.

The President noted that his department prosecuted hundreds of terror cases, "rooted out corruption and fought violent crime," tackled financial fraud and "attacks on the Voting Rights Act." Obama said Holder also helped to bring down the crime rate and incarceration rate by 10% over the last six years.

"Eric has done a superb job," Obama said. "I just want to say thank you."

In a telephone interview with CNN's Evan Perez before the official announcement, Holder said he never intended to stay for the duration of Obama's second term. He said now was the appropriate time to step down -- a time when things are going smoothly at the department.

"I'm confident we're in a good place," Holder said. "Now was a good time to go [with] those accomplishments in the last few years in place."

He points to Justice's role in the aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He has also stated that protecting voters' rights and gay rights, easing federal drug sentencing rules that he argues disproportionately burden minorities and defending the use of criminal courts to try terrorist suspects are critical issues.

"I think I go out having accomplished a great deal in the areas that are of importance to me. I'm satisfied with the work we have done," he said.

Holder has discussed his plans to step down personally with the President on multiple occasions in recent months, and finalized those plans in an hour-long conversation with Obama at the White House residence over Labor Day weekend, an Obama administration official said.

Holder noted that he has loved the Justice Department since, when he was a boy, he watched how -- under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy -- the Justice Department played a leadership role in advancing the civil rights movement. During his tenure as attorney general, Holder has had Kennedy's portrait in his conference room.

Controversy

Holder also has been criticized as being overtly political, and some Republican members of Congress are shedding few tears over his resignation.

For instance, Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina tweeted, "Good riddance Eric Holder. Your disregard for the Constitution of the United States will not be missed."

House Speaker John Boehner released a similar statement, saying Holder's resignation is "long overdue."

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Some congressional Republicans have accused the attorney general of defying the 2013 Supreme Court ruling in Shelby v. Holder , which struck down a component of the Voting Rights Act, and they investigated him over Operation Fast and Furious

Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder attends a meeting with the My Brother's Keeper Task Force to receive a 90-day report on its progress in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in May 2014. Holder's resignation was announced in September 2014, but his replacement, Loretta Lynch, was not confirmed by the Senate until April 23, 2015. Hide Caption 1 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder talks with his father, Eric Holder Sr., after being sworn in as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in 1993. Hide Caption 2 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder shakes hands with then-President Bill Clinton as Attorney General Janet Reno, Holder's boss, looks on at an American Bar Association event at the White House in 1999. Hide Caption 3 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder walks with Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, in June 2008 after they were tasked with searching for a running mate for then-Sen. Barack Obama. Hide Caption 4 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder is sworn in as attorney general by Vice President Joe Biden in February 2009. Holder's wife, Dr. Sharon Malone, is by his side. Hide Caption 5 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder announces in November 2009 that five men accused of the September 11 terror attacks would be tried in a New York civilian court. He said the government would seek the death penalty against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others. Hide Caption 6 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder is greeted by members of Congress as he arrives at the U.S. House of Representatives in May 2010. Hide Caption 7 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder answers a student's question after a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Duquesne University School of Law in February 2011. Hide Caption 8 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder talks to reporters after meeting with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in June 2012. Issa and Holder met to discuss releasing documents related to the botched Fast and Furious investigation. Hide Caption 9 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder takes questions at a news conference in May 2013. He said he recused himself from a national security leak investigation in which prosecutors obtained the phone records of Associated Press journalists. Hide Caption 10 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder leaves after speaking of his disappointment in a Supreme Court ruling that declared a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional in June 2013. Hide Caption 11 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder talks with Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014. Holder traveled to Ferguson to oversee the federal government's investigation into a police officer's shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Hide Caption 12 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder wipes away tears in September 2014 as his resignation is announced by President Barack Obama in Washington. Holder, who led the Department of Justice for six years, stayed in the position until his replacement, Loretta Lynch, was confirmed. Hide Caption 13 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, January 29, on oversight of the Justice Department and reform of government surveillance programs. Hide Caption 14 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder and his wife, Sharon Malone, look on as artist Simmie Knox unveils Holder's official portrait during a ceremony at the Justice Department in Washington on Friday, February 27. Hide Caption 15 of 16 Photos: Attorney General Eric Holder Holder delivers remarks about the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, at the Department of Justice in Washington on Thursday, March 12. Hide Caption 16 of 16

In Fast and Furious, the so-called gun-walking operation, roughly 2,000 guns were allowed into Mexico with the goal of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels. Two guns found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's fatal shooting in December 2010 were linked to the operation.

In June 2012, the House voted to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents linked to that operation.

Upon hearing the news of Holder's resignation, House Oversight Committee Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, who lead the contempt proceedings, called Holder "the most divisive U.S. Attorney General in modern history."

Partisan support

But Holder has his supporters, including the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I particularly appreciate how Attorney General Holder has restored the Civil Rights Division to its historical mission," Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said.

Leahy also pointed to the attorney general's work on sentencing reforms and efforts to reduce recidivism rates.

Those sentiments were echoed by Rep. Marcia Fudge, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She said Holder's departure "will leave a significant void in this administration and in our nation."

Tenure

The attorney general is one of only three remaining members of Obama's original Cabinet.

In 2013, Holder described his first meeting with Obama, which occurred just after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

"I sat next to him at this dinner and we just started talking about a variety of things, sports among them and criminal justice issues. And we saw that we had a lot of similar views and so we just started a relationship that was casual," Holder said.

Holder was sworn in as the 82nd attorney general in February 2009 after serving as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, the first African-American to serve in that position.

Previously, the Columbia Law School graduate was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and served during President Ronald Reagan's administration as an associate judge at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.