Obama to nominate Lynch for attorney general

Obama will make the announcement in the White House’s Roosevelt Room where he will be joined by Holder and Lynch, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

“Lynch is a strong, independent prosecutor who has twice led one of the most important U.S. Attorney’s offices in the country,” Earnest said. “She will succeed Eric Holder, whose tenure has been marked by historic gains in the areas of criminal justice reform and civil rights enforcement.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Lynch would be the first African-American woman to serve as attorney general, and Holder reportedly encouraged the White House to consider her as his replacement.

One of Lynch’s main strengths that positions her well for Senate confirmation is that she would be a fresh face in the administration and someone who is not too closely tied to the Obama administration and doesn’t have a record of defending Obama’s policies.

Lynch, a U.S. attorney based in Brooklyn, gained recognition as a top prosecutor in a high-profile police brutality case involving a white New York police officer sodomizing a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, with a broken broomstick in 1997.

In the years since, she has prosecuted several terrorism cases and currently leads the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, a group of U.S. attorneys who weigh in on top-level Justice Department policy decisions.

In addition, the two-time U.S. attorney has a record of Senate approval. In 2000 and again in 2010 the Senate confirmed her by acclamation.

Republicans, who view the attorney general confirmation as their first major battle in a new GOP majority, congratulated Lynch but also signaled early skepticism about her nomination.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said Friday U.S. attorneys are “rarely elevated” directly to the attorney general post, so he looks forward to learning more about her.

“As we move forward with the confirmation process, I have every confidence that Ms. Lynch will receive a very fair, but thorough, vetting by the Judiciary Committee,” he said. “U.S. Attorneys are rarely elevated directly to this position, so I look forward to learning more about her, how she will interact with Congress, and how she proposes to lead the department.”

“I’m hopeful that her tenure, if confirmed, will restore confidence in the attorney general as a politically independent voice for the American people,” he added.

Top Senate Democrats on Friday started to rally around the potential of a Lynch nomination.

Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement: “Ms. Lynch is an experienced prosecutor, and if confirmed, she will make history as the first African-American woman to lead the Department of Justice. As the body that considers the President’s nominee, the Senate has an important role in this debate, and that process begins in the Judiciary Committee. I have spoken with the President about the need to confirm our next attorney general in a reasonable time period, and I look forward to beginning that process.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a prominent member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Senate Democrats’ Policy and Communications Center, is a new convert on Lynch for attorney general, two sources familiar with the confirmation process told the Washington Examiner.

His support boosts Lynch’s candidacy and is viewed as a way to encourage other Democrats to quickly back her selection.

Schumer had twice recommended Lynch to the White House for U.S. attorney and said Friday that she would make “an outstanding attorney general.”

Early in the week, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee were put on notice that Obama could name his pick for attorney general Thursday or Friday but the choice and timing would depend on election results, two sources said.

Before the election, Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli were considered the two top choices, with Lynch viewed as the most likely replacement for departing Deputy Attorney General James Cole, the sources said.

After the Democratic electoral drubbing Tuesday, Perez, who previously served as the head of the Justice Department’s politically charged civil rights division, became an untenable selection with Republicans gearing up for a bruising confirmation fight, the sources said.

Perez’ selection would have set a combative tone for Obama’s final two years, as well as heavier emphasis on the president’s civil rights legacy. The Perez choice also would have cost Obama hefty political capital and the nomination likely still would have gone down in defeat. Perez had to overcome virulent GOP opposition to be confirmed for Labor secretary last year.

Among Democrats closely watching the process, Verrilli was considered a less inspiring possibility but was viewed as a serious contender because of his loyalty to Obama.

In 2012, he told the Washington Post that he would be happy to “do anything at the Department of Justice, including sweeping the floors.”

Republicans would have undoubtedly targeted Verrilli for his defense of Obamacare before the Supreme Court in 2012, as well as the administration’s decision last year not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act’s prohibition on federal benefits for gay and lesbian couples.

Democrats closely watching the nomination process view Schumer’s outspoken support for Lynch as an effort to boost her nomination.

They argue Schumer previously supported Preetinder Singh “Preet” Bharara, who serves as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara, Schumer’s former chief counsel, appeared on the cover of Time magazine with the headline “This Man is Busting Wall Street” and is known for prosecuting several international terrorists including Faisal Shazad, the Times Square Bomber.

Bharara is unlikely to take a deputy attorney general position because that would leave two U.S. attorney positions open in New York. His candidacy also suffers from rivalry between the main Justice Department in Washington and the prominent U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York because of the many high-profile cases it prosecutes, the sources said.