Why is Eric Holder staying at the Justice Department?

Many predicted the embattled attorney general would step down

Eric Holder
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced that she would step down from her post, becoming the latest cabinet member to move on as President Obama begins his second term.

But perhaps the more interesting story revolves around the members of Obama's first-term cabinet who are sticking around. There are reportedly three of them: Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and, of all people, Attorney General Eric Holder. That comes as a bit of a surprise, given that Holder seemed to have one of the most miserable jobs in Washington. No cabinet member has been more of a GOP punching bag than him. He has been dragged before House committees time and again to testify on what many liberals consider to be a witch hunt over Operation Fast and Furious, a botched gun-running plan that allowed American weapons to fall in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.