Obama to nominate Loretta Lynch to serve as attorney general

President Obama will nominate Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to serve as his next attorney general.

If confirmed by the Senate, Lynch would be the first African-American woman to serve as attorney general. She would succeed Eric Holder, the first African-American attorney general, who announced in September that he would step down as soon as his successor is confirmed.

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Mr. Obama will formally announce his intent to nominate Lynch on Saturday at the White House.

"Ms. Lynch is a strong, independent prosecutor who has twice led one of the most important U.S. Attorney's Offices in the country," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement. "She will succeed Eric Holder, whose tenure has been marked by historic gains in the areas of criminal justice reform and civil rights enforcement."

As CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett reported earlier in the week, Lynch has a long, successful track record of prosecuting white collar criminals and terrorists, and of handling volatile civil rights cases. Lynch has served for four years on an outside panel advising Holder, yet has personally stayed out of the limelight. Additionally, in January 2013, Holder appointed Lynch chairwoman of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee.

Lynch will now have to be confirmed by either the current, Democratically-controlled Senate during its lame-duck session, or by the new Republican-controlled Senate next year. Lynch's background does not suggest her confirmation should be problematic, though any nominee would be sure to face a barrage of questions from Congress about Holder's legacy and continued agenda.