Rand Paul sounds ready to rumble—his reaction to Loretta Lynch’s nomination for attorney general? “Oh, she’s going down.”
According to Breitbart, Paul made that remark while going over Lynch’s record with his staff before announcing his opposition. Paul was reportedly “incredulous” when told that Lynch had declined to tell Sen. Ted Cruz whether or not she would support killing an American citizen with a drone on U.S. soil.
Paul formally announced his opposition on Fox News, and then released a statement in which he claims that Lynch “rides roughshod on our Constitutional rights.”
In his statement, Paul blasted Lynch’s record of backing civil forfeiture, the law enforcement practice that allows police to seize and keep private property without ever accusing its owners of a crime. Outgoing attorney general Eric Holder recently ended a small part of the federal civil seizure program, but Paul wants to go further and require the government to prove property owners knowingly committed a crime.
“Mrs. Lynch has a track-record of violating the individual freedoms granted to us by our Constitution,” Paul said. “She considers civil asset forfeiture to be a ‘useful tool,’ while I consider it to be an infringement on the Fifth Amendment.”
“She remains non-committal on the legality of drone strikes against American citizens,” he continued, “while I believe such strikes unequivocally violate rights granted to us by the Sixth Amendment.”
Paul then went on to criticize her support for “executive amnesty.” Lynch has also called NSA surveillance programs “constitutional and effective,” and said she would oppose marijuana legalization.
Paul had criticized Lynch on civil forfeiture in the past, telling Breitbart, “She seems to not quite understand that innocent people are having their stuff taken by government–their cars, their money, their hotels, their stuff is being confiscated by government even if they’re never charged or even if they’re never convicted.”
Ted Cruz is also opposing Lynch, along with Majority Whip John Cornyn.
