Loretta Lynch
President Obama will give Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, the nod to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, CNN
reports. The announcement "is expected in the coming days, though timing is complicated by the president's plans to travel to Asia this weekend."
A possible complication to her confirmation—besides the fact that she would be the first African-American woman to hold the nation's top law enforcement position which would make for many exploding heads on the right—is that she has "led the prosecution of Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican congressman from Staten Island, for alleged tax fraud." Grimm won re-election Tuesday, joining the ranks of indicted members of Congress.
The New York Times profiles Lynch, noting that she's won two Senate confirmations, in 2000 and 2010, as U.S. attorney. It also notes her highest profile prosecution:
She supervised the successful prosecution of a white New York police officer who sodomized a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, with a broken broomstick in 1997. The case became a national symbol of police brutality.
As United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Ms. Lynch oversaw all federal prosecutions in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island. The office’s many terrorism cases have given it a reputation as a hub of expertise on national security matters. She also leads the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, a panel of United States attorneys who advise the attorney general on policy and operational issues.
If confirmed, she would be the second African American, the second woman, and the second U.S. attorney elevated directly to attorney general in the nation's history. Presumably, President Obama will make the nomination as quickly as possible so that the confirmation can be pushed while Democrats still control the Senate.