Our nation should be grateful that former Attorney General, Eric Holder, has resigned. He mismanaged the Justice Department, was too close to the President, and did not have a firm grip on Constitutional principles.
Now, we have a new era with a new leader at the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.
This month, the United States Senate confirmed Loretta Elizabeth Lynch by a 56-43 vote to become our next Attorney General.
Ms. Lynch was born on May 21, 1959 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her mother was a school librarian and her father was a Baptist minister. As a child, she spent hours with her father watching court proceedings in Durham, North Carolina.
Her desire to study the law would pave a way to earning a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1984.
For most of her legal career, Lynch has been known as a tough federal prosecutor. She joined the Eastern District of New York as a drug and violent-crime prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1990. From 1994 to 1998, she served as the chief of the Long Island office and worked on several political corruption cases involving the government of Brookhaven, New York. From 1998 to 1999, she was the chief assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District.
In 1999, she was nominated by Bill Clinton to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. During her term as U.S. Attorney, Lynch gained national attention for her prosecution of New York City police officers in the Abner Louima case.
In 2001, Lynch left the U.S. Attorney’s office to become a partner at a private law firm. She remained there until January 20, 2010, when the President nominated Lynch to again serve as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
On November 8, 2014, the President nominated her to succeed Holder as Attorney General. Eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, Chuck Grassley, opposed Lynch’s confirmation.
Republican opposition was based upon some of her decisions in her private practice, public service, and her philosophy of prosecuted cases as the U.S. Attorney in New York.
On February 26, 2015, the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate confirmed her appointment by a 12–8 vote, with all Democrats of the committee and three Republicans in favor.
She was finally confirmed by the full Senate in a rather close vote.
I have my own concerns about Ms. Lynch.
First, the President has shown during his tenure that he lacks good judgment in his appointments; particularly those in the judiciary.
Second, AG Lynch has been prosecuting in the state of New York for a long time. Many of the laws and much of the culture in urban New York is anti-gun ownership. I don’t know if Ms. Lynch will respect the 2nd Amendment or not. But, there is a level of concern there.
Lastly, both United States Senators from her home state of North Carolina voted against her nomination. That is a rare and troubling circumstance.
However, AG Loretta Lynch has been legally confirmed as the top law enforcement officer in the land. She deserves to start off with a clean slate.
I just hope that she will serve all Americans equally and will uphold the plain language of the United States Constitution.
