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Attorney General Eric Holder has been a lightning rod for the president's fiercest critics during his four years in office. Lately, he's been back on the hot seat with a crisis of his own making: the Justice Department's aggressive stance toward reporters in national security leak cases.

Holder heads to the Senate on Thursday, where lawmakers are sure to demand an explanation.

Being in the center of the storm is nothing new for Holder. Even before he was confirmed by the Senate in 2009, Republicans in Congress singled him out for criticism, says former spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler.

"I think with some members of Congress — particularly some Republicans — the attorney general has been a favorite target of theirs, partly because he is the perfect proxy for the president," Schmaler says.

Schmaler says Holder has drawn all that attention because he's one of the more left-leaning members of the Cabinet, and he's personally close to President Obama and the first lady.

Meanwhile, over the past couple of decades, the job of attorney general has become more politicized. That's something that makes Holder uncomfortable every time he goes to Capitol Hill, says onetime prosecutor and Senate lawyer Stephen Ryan.

"The question is," says Ryan, "Is the attorney general ready for people who punch wildly and below the belt on occasion, and land some blows that are quite honest and above the belt? And so I think he's got some problems that in the second term are hard to deal with."

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