Loretta Lynch confirmation hearings could signal start of Republican thaw
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Version 0 of 1. In a city of broken relationships, no pairing is quite as star-crossed as that of the current attorney general, Eric Holder, with Republicans in Congress. They have held him in contempt for refusing to hand over emails; he has allowed something very much like contempt to creep into his voice at more than one Hill hearing. The two sides have clashed over issues from how to prosecute terrorism cases to alleged national security leaks to the president’s executive actions on immigration. With the nominee to replace him, Loretta Lynch, set to begin confirmation hearings on Wednesday, the question arises of how much baggage from the Holder years will be held over should Lynch indeed be confirmed. Related: Loretta Lynch: level-headed lawyer who flies beneath the radar There are reasons for hope that a thaw could be at hand. Top Republicans have provisionally welcomed the nomination of Lynch, a brilliant US attorney who is seen as politically independent and whose get-to-know-you meetings with members reportedly went well. “I want to see what happens in the hearings,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, told Politico. “But certainly I’m supportive.” Then there is the fact that Holder is taking his nemesis with him. Holder’s tenure has been punctuated by clashes with Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican who is stepping down as chairman of the House oversight committee due to term limits. Issa and Holder traded sharp words at hearings, and Issa was instrumental to a 2012 vote in the House to hold Holder in contempt for alleged stonewalling over a gun-walking operation known as Fast and Furious. Related: Eric Holder's legacy: a quest for racial justice despite constant controversy Some of the sharpest issues dividing the administration and Congress, however, seem likely to come to a head in President Obama’s remaining 23 months in office. The next attorney general might expect to face rocky times in Congress over: |