“Loretta has spent her entire life fighting for fair and equal justice that is the foundation of our democracy,” Obama said. For those civil rights activists who were concerned about Holder’s replacement, they can now breathe a collective sigh of relief.
“The NAACP commends President Obama for nominating Loretta E. Lynch to serve as the next Attorney General of the United States,” Cornell Brooks, President of the NAACP, said in a statement. “Her nomination couldn’t have come at a more critical time in our nation’s history. We look forward to working with Ms. Lynch to ensure that our nation’s voting rights laws, employment protection laws and anti-housing discrimination laws are strictly and fairly enforced.”
Obama has called for the confirmation of Lynch “without delay” though a final vote may not take place until January when the new Republican Senate convenes. Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said the next Congress should consider Lynch’s nomination because outgoing lawmakers “are no longer accountable to the voters.”
“Ms. Lynch will receive fair consideration by the Senate,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who becomes majority leader in the Senate in January. “And her nomination should be considered in the new Congress through regular order.”
But supporters of Lynch argue that her confirmation should not be stalled. Political pundits speculate that Lynch will be confirmed, but only after being grilled by Republican lawmakers.
“The nomination of Loretta Lynch to be the new Attorney General of the United States is applaudable and deserving,” Rev. Al Sharpton, head of The National Action Network, said in a statement. “She is an excellent and worthy choice to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder in his groundbreaking work for the American people. I have known Ms. Lynch since she was on the team around the Abner Louima case in the late nineties. Though we have not always agreed on cases, I have always seen her operate in the most fair, balanced, and just manner. Americans would be served greatly by her becoming our next Attorney General and the President should be given kudos for such a nomination.”
Lynch was born in Greensboro, N.C., in 1959, a year before black students sat at a whites-only lunch counter that served as a catalyst for nationwide civil rights protests. She graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
“The Department of Justice is the only cabinet department named for an ideal,” Lynch said. “And this is actually appropriate, for our work is both aspirational and grounded in gritty reality. It’s both ennobling and profoundly challenging. Today I stand before you so thrilled, and frankly so humbled, to have the opportunity to lead this group of wonderful people who work all day and well into the night to make that ideal a manifest reality.”
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Loretta Lynch Is The Right Choice For Attorney General – But Will The GOP See It That Way? was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
