Loretta Lynch is officially the 83rd attorney general of the United States.
Lynch, 55, has been the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. After months of delays by a Republican-controlled Senate, the Senate confirmed her nomination 56-43 last week.
Lynch, who was sworn in Monday by Vice President Joe Biden at the Justice Department in Washington, becomes the first African-American woman to fill the position.
“It seems like such an understatement to say my heart is full, but it is,” Lynch said. “I have to thank the president for his faith in me and asking me to lead the department that I love to even greater heights.”
Lynch, who hails from North Carolina, said she will prioritize fighting crime, strengthening victims’ rights, combating cyberattacks and ending sex trafficking.
“At the heart of that for me certainly … is the desire to leave this world a better place for having been a part of it,” she said. “The challenge in that, for all us that love this department, that love the law, is to use the law to that end. Not just to represent the law and enforce the law, but to use it to make real on the promise of America, the promise of fairness, the promise of equality, the promise of justice for all.”
Lynch replaces Eric Holder, who was the first African-American to hold the position.
(h/t Huffington Post)
