Senate Committee Clears Path for Loretta Lynch

By Carla Murphy Feb 27, 2015

The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday cleared a path for Loretta Lynch, 55, to replace outgoing attorney general Eric Holder, 64. If confirmed by the full chamber, Lynch, currently the top federal prosecutor for New York’s Eastern District, will become the first African-American woman to head the department of justice.

Lynch is perhaps best known, along with Brooklyn’s new district attorney and reformer, Kenneth Thompson, for successfully prosecuting the 1997 beating and sodomy case of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima by New York City police officers. One ABC News report describes Lynch as, "not part of the president’s inner circle," and her reportedly low profile has been a common theme in coverage.

Some Republicans have raised concern over her stance on immigration and a money laundering case in which, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says, execs got off lightly. But with unanimous Democrat (and police chiefs’) support, Lynch, The Hill reports, only needs one more Republican vote in the Senate order to be confirmed. 

President Obama announced last September, Eric Holder’s intention to resign as soon as his successor is confirmed.