Last modified: 3/19/2015 12:35:54 AM
The delay of Loretta Lynch’s confirmation as U.S. attorney general is yet another disappointment from the GOP-controlled Senate.
Her confirmation should be a simple matter. Lynch has a strong record as the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, and she would be a trailblazer as the first African-American woman to hold the post. New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte is reported to be one of the Republican senators who might support her, too.
But when you have a Republican majority that is driven to distraction by President Obama, the simplest matters can turn into the grandest of confrontations. So far this year, the Senate has worked at a glacial pace, only managing to pass bills that are either absolutely necessary, such as allocating money for the Department of Homeland Security, or certain to be vetoed, such as attempting to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Lynch was nominated in November. She was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote last month, with senators of both parties praising her experience. The delay between her nomination and confirmation is now as long as any attorney general since Edwin Meese was nominated by President Ronald Reagan exactly 30 years ago.
That’s an unconscionable delay, especially when it comes to our nation’s top law enforcement officer.
The list of things GOP senators don’t like about the Obama administration is lengthy. But the justification they’re using to oppose Lynch’s confirmation is her support of Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Never mind the fact that if congressional Republicans had taken action on a comprehensive immigration plan over the last six years, Obama’s executive actions would have been unnecessary. They had – indeed, they still have – the power to render any executive order superfluous.
Right now, Senate leader Mitch McConnell is using a human trafficking bill as the flimsiest of pretexts to delay Lynch’s confirmation. The bill includes anti-abortion language that some Democrats object to. Republicans are unhappy that Democrats are raising a stink about the bill now, given that its text has been available for months. But these political squabbles have exactly nothing to do with the post of attorney general.
Ironically, it is GOP senators’ own dislike of Obama and his team that may rescue Lynch’s nomination.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said he will remain on the job until his successor is confirmed. Given Republicans’ loathing of Holder (the House voted to hold him in contempt last year), perhaps they will eventually come to their senses and allow his replacement to take the job for which she was nominated. We trust that Ayotte, who knows something about breaking barriers as an attorney general, will nudge her fellow Republicans in the correct direction.
The delay of Loretta Lynch’s confirmation as U.S. attorney general is yet another disappointment from the GOP-controlled Senate.
Her confirmation should be a simple matter. Lynch has a strong record as the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, and she would be a trailblazer as the first African-American woman to hold the post. New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte is reported to be one of the Republican senators who might support her, too.
But when you have a Republican majority that is driven to distraction by President Obama, the simplest matters can turn into the grandest of confrontations. So far this year, the Senate has worked at a glacial pace, only managing to pass bills that are either absolutely necessary, such as allocating money for the Department of Homeland Security, or certain to be vetoed, such as attempting to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Lynch was nominated in November. She was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote last month, with senators of both parties praising her experience. The delay between her nomination and confirmation is now as long as any attorney general since Edwin Meese was nominated by President Reagan exactly 30 years ago.
That’s an unconscionable delay, especially when it comes to our nation’s top law enforcement officer.
The list of things GOP senators don’t like about the Obama administration is lengthy. But the justification they’re using to oppose Lynch’s confirmation is her support of Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Never mind the fact that if congressional Republicans had taken action on a comprehensive immigration plan over the last six years, Obama’s executive actions would have been unnecessary. They had – indeed, they still have – the power to render any executive order superfluous.
Right now, Senate leader Mitch McConnell is using a human trafficking bill as the flimsiest of pretexts to delay Lynch’s confirmation. The bill includes anti-abortion language that some Democrats object to. Republicans are unhappy that Democrats are raising a stink about the bill now, given that its text has been available for months. But these political squabbles have exactly nothing to do with the post of attorney general.
Ironically, it is GOP senators’ own dislike of Obama and his team that may rescue Lynch’s nomination.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said he will remain on the job until his successor is confirmed. Given Republicans’ loathing of Holder (the House voted to hold him in contempt last year), perhaps they will eventually come to their senses and allow his replacement to take the job for which she was nominated. We trust that Ayotte, who knows something about breaking barriers as an attorney general, will nudge her fellow Republicans in the correct direction.