New York Times
By Carl Hulse
April 23, 2015
After
months of delay and partisan finger-pointing, Loretta E. Lynch is set
to receive a vote in the Senate on Thursday and appears headed toward
narrow approval as the
nation’s 83rd attorney general and the first African-American woman to
hold the position.
Members
of both parties say that despite deep opposition to her nomination by
Republicans in the majority, Ms. Lynch, currently the United States
attorney for the Eastern
District of New York, has at least the minimum number of backers to be
confirmed, with five Republicans publicly supporting her with 46
Democrats and independents.
Republicans
have essentially not challenged her record or credentials, but have
mainly expressed their opposition to Ms. Lynch’s defense of President
Obama’s immigration
actions last year that Senate Republicans said exceeded Mr. Obama’s
constitutional authority.
“I
don’t have any personal disputes with her character or abilities, but
it is clear to me that the president should not nominate and the
Congress should not confirm an
attorney general who advocates positions that aren’t lawful,” said
Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama and a leading opponent of
the president’s immigration policies. “This evidences an unwillingness
to enforce the law.”
Democrats
have become increasingly incensed about the holdup of the nomination of
Ms. Lynch, who was named in November by Mr. Obama as the successor to
Eric H. Holder
Jr., and civil rights activists have also challenged the delay. The
path to a vote on her nomination was opened Wednesday by Senate approval
of an anti-sex-trafficking measure that Senator Mitch McConnell, the
Kentucky Republican and majority leader, said
had to be resolved before he would bring up the Lynch nomination.
“Loretta
Lynch is eminently qualified to be attorney general,” said Senator
Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary
Committee. “It should not
have taken us so long to bring this nomination up for a vote.” Mr.
Leahy added that he “can only hope that Senate Republicans will show her
more respect as the attorney general of the United States than she has
received as a nominee.”
Some
conservative groups have called on Senate Republicans to block a vote
on Ms. Lynch altogether because of her stance on immigration. But Mr.
McConnell has said repeatedly
that he would allow a vote. Other Senate Republicans acknowledge
privately that the party would face serious political repercussions if
it blocked an African-American nominee with strong credentials as well
as enthusiastic support from many in law enforcement,
and some Republicans outside Congress.
Before
she can be confirmed, Ms. Lynch faces an initial procedural vote. Under
a change in Senate rules instituted by Democrats in November 2013, she
needs only a majority
to clear what used to be a 60-vote threshold. However, Republicans said
they were trying to assemble 60 votes to avoid the appearance of
endorsing a rules change they consider illegitimate.
Still,
most Republicans were expected to oppose her nomination in the end,
resulting in narrow approval for a top cabinet position that in the past
has been filled with
overwhelming support.
The
November 2007 vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as the attorney general
by a margin of 53 to 40 was the narrowest in decades, and Ms. Lynch’s
vote could be even closer.
The
discord over Ms. Lynch is a reflection of the rising and bitter
partisanship that has surrounded presidential nominees for the executive
and the judicial branches
in recent years, greatly complicating the confirmation process.
Republicans
so far supporting Ms. Lynch are Senators Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Jeff
Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of
Maine and Mark S.
Kirk of Illinois.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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