U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce his resignation today, according to a report from NPR. Holder will reportedly remain in his position until a successor is confirmed later this year or in early 2015.

From NPR:

A former U.S. government official says Holder has been increasingly "adamant" about his desire to leave soon for fear he otherwise could be locked in to stay for much of the rest of President Obama's second term.

Holder already is one of the longest serving members of the Obama cabinet and ranks as the fourth longest tenured AG in history. Hundreds of employees waited in lines, stacked three rows deep, for his return in early February 2009 to the Justice Department, where he previously worked as a young corruption prosecutor and as deputy attorney general — the second in command — during the Clinton administration.

Holder's announcement isn't a surprise; in February, he told the New Yorker that he planned to resign by the end of the year. By resigning now, Holder gives President Obama the chance to push his nominee to replace Holder through the Senate before November's election. Solicitor General Don Verrilli, the Obama administration's top representative to the Supreme Court, is the frontrunner to succeed Holder, according to NPR's sources.

[Image via AP]