Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy predicts most Republicans will vote to support President Obama’s nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general.
“There may be some who feel they have to vote ‘no’ simply because it’s a nominee by President Obama, but the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats will vote for her,” the Vermont Democrat said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.
Leahy said Lynch will get strong bipartisan support because “she’s superbly qualified.”
“This is somebody who doesn’t go out and give great speeches about how we should go after terrorists or go after drug dealers. Instead she just goes after them — goes after them, convicts them,” he said. “We need somebody like that as top law enforcement officer in this country.”
If confirmed, Lynch, a New York federal prosecutor, would become the first African-American woman to head the Justice Department, succeeding Eric Holder, who was the first African-American attorney general.
Lynch likely will get the job even without any Republican support, as her confirmation requires only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, with Democrats controlling 53 seats.
Until last November all presidential nominations for cabinet positions, like attorney general, needed 60 votes in the Senate to be confirmed. But in a highly controversial move, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., changed the Senate rules to require only a simple majority after accusing Republicans of repeatedly blocking Obama’s nominees for political purposes.
Republicans want a vote on Lynch’s nomination delayed until after they take control of the Senate in early January.
“It would be in the best interest of the country and the Congress to wait and do this next year under regular order,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told CNN on Sunday. “Eric Holder said he’s not going anywhere soon, so it’s not like the position isn’t going to be filled.”
Leahy also called on Republicans to work with Democrats to address a backlog of more than 100 presidential nominees before the 2014 session ends.
“If you’ve got somebody who is controversial, of course, have a debate and then have a vote. But 95 percent of the names that are pending there are non-controversial,” the Democrat said. “In fact, (most) probably went through the various committees with every Republican and every Democrat voting for them.”
