Judiciary to Loretta Lynch: Expect a grilling
Loretta Lynch will set off the first major confirmation battle of the new GOP-led Senate when she goes before the Judiciary Committee this week. But the attorney general nominee also presents Republicans with a challenge â finding a way to express their ire at the Obama administration without going too far. The 55-year-old federal prosecutor will face many potential minefields when she goes before the committee on Wednesday, with senators set to grill her on issues like immigration, terrorism, war, marijuana laws and the limits of executive power. Story Continued Below But sheâs also a polished, experienced lawyer who would be the nationâs first black female attorney general. Top Republicans concede sheâs likely to be confirmed â unless she messes up. âI donât think senators have to approach it differently, but I think we have to always be courteous,â said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. He added: âI think tough questions are right and we ought to ask tough questions. â¦ But I think we should always show respect and restraint with a nomination of any president, whether Republican or a Democrat.â Hatch, the most senior Republican in the chamber, added that he expects Lynchâs nomination to clear the committee and ultimately be confirmed by the full Senate. The two days of hearings will also be the first key test for the committeeâs new Republican chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa â known for his deliberative and thorough style, along with his obsession with congressional oversight of the administration, which he plans to raise in his questions. He also wants to ensure all senators get every last question answered from Lynch. So heâs telling her: Come rested. âBefore all the Republicans get done, and maybe even this would include some Democrats, weâre going to have practically everything covered that we want to cover,â the Iowa Republican said in an interview in his Capitol office. âSo, except when she needs to take time to rest or eat lunch, you know, weâre going to keep going.â Lynch, whoâs now the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, is well respected on both sides of the aisle, but her confirmation fight will almost certainly spiral into a larger war between Republican lawmakers and the White House, especially on the executive actions that President Barack Obama took in November to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation without input from Congress. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is sure to grill Lynch on whether she thinks Obamaâs immigration moves are legally defensible. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) singled out the âabuse of powerâ at the Internal Revenue Service as a key issue in her confirmation hearing. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a defense hawk and former Air Force attorney, plans to question Lynch on matters of war. And Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) wants to ask about Operation Streamline, a Justice Department initiative that essentially fast-tracks prosecutions of illegal border crossings en masse. Flake and fellow Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain have credited Operation Streamline with helping to bolster security at the border in Yuma County, Arizona, but federal officials have recently scaled back some prosecutions under the program. Sessions echoed conservativesâ view that the Justice Department has become too politicized under outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder. And Grassley said he has questions about prosecutorial discretion â for instance, the Justice Departmentâs decision in 2013 to not challenge state laws that allow for marijuana use. âThereâs got to be prosecutorial discretion, and you probably donât have the resources to prosecute every crime,â Grassley said. âBut you surely donât tell your enemies what youâre going to prosecute or not prosecute.â Lynch is also up against the wildly diverse personalities on Judiciary, packed with longtime Senate institutionalists, firebrand tea party favorites, two new Republican freshmen and at least one senator â Cruz â whoâs aggressively eyeing a much broader national stage. âThe only way I can manage is to make sure they donât exceed their time,â Grassley said of how he plans to oversee how the hearings are run. âAnd if they ask a question, be humane in â¦ how you ask the question and give people a chance to respond, and if theyâre responding, let them answer it.â Many of these issues have already surfaced in Lynchâs private sessions with senators â a meet-and-greet effort that began not long after she was announced by Obama as his attorney general pick in November. The prosecutorâs charm offensive has wound its way through all corridors of the Senate since she began the meetings early last month. Her courtesy visits have included conservative Senate Republicans such as Cruz and David Vitter of Louisiana â who proclaimed he would vote against Lynch even before he sat down with her â as well as liberals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and her home-state supporters, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. She was still doing those visits as late as Thursday, when she was on the Hill for meetings with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas â both members of the Judiciary Committee. Tillis said he was headed into the private discussion with an âopen mind.â In advance of the hearings this week, Hatch, Graham and Flake were largely seen as potential votes in favor of Lynchâs confirmation, while Sessions, Cruz, Vitter, Cornyn and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) were being viewed as ânoâ votes, according to multiple Senate aides and a review of the senatorsâ public statements. Less clear were how Grassley, Tillis and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) would ultimately vote, according to the aides. But Tillis could be inclined to vote in favor of Lynch, who hails from North Carolina. âI think sheâs a good choice,â Graham said. âShe seems to me to be a very qualified person. But you know, sheâs got to perform well.â Added Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chaired the committee when Democrats were in power: âSheâll be confirmed overwhelmingly.â Much of the drama on her nomination has played out separately from Lynch herself, as the administration and Grassleyâs staff sparred over what White House officials saw as the Senateâs unnecessary delay in considering her. Earlier this month, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Lynchâs nomination merited prompt consideration, arguing that she âdeserves a lot better treatment than sheâs currently receiving.â He called on the Senate to confirm Lynch before Congressâ first recess of the year, which is the week of Feb. 16. That looks unlikely to happen. Grassley and his spokeswoman, Beth Levine, predicted that Lynch may not even see a committee vote before the mid-February break, due to multiple procedural hurdles. For instance, senators would need time to submit questions for the record, which means the earliest a vote on her nomination could appear on the committeeâs agenda would presumably be Feb. 12. Then her nomination would almost certainly be delayed an additional week, since committee rules allow any one senator to ask for the vote to be held over. With the Senateâs current 51-vote threshold for most nominations, including hers, and expected unanimous support from Democrats, Lynch would need only a handful of Republicans to push her over the confirmation finish line once she gets to the floor. Other Senate Republicans not on Judiciary, such as McCain and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, have previously indicated they are inclined to support her, barring an unforeseen twist. âIâm one who believes the president should have his people unless they are unqualified and thereâs some extenuating circumstance,â Flake said. âI havenât seen that yet.â Vitter appears to be the only declared vote against Lynch so far, but other committee Republicans were strictly noncommittal when asked about her. Lee said only: âWeâre going to have a look at her at the hearing.â Some Senate Republicans, who, like their House colleagues, have had an antagonistic relationship with the current attorney general, are particularly careful in considering how they will approach Lynchâs confirmation. âI supported Attorney General Holder,â Sessions said. âAnd Iâm still getting complaints about it.â