GOP: Attorney General Pick Must Be ‘Willing To Oppose’ President, Or Else
Ongoing relations with the Obama Administration and Congressional Republicans can possibly sour more in the upcoming months. With the president’s nomination of Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General, two GOP senators want to make one thing perfectly clear: Unless the AG nominee is willing to denounce Barack Obama’s planned amnesty executive order on immigration, confirmation and passing bipartisan legislation will be challenging.
After the smoke cleared from the midterm elections, the GOP got its prize in controlling both the House and Senate. The results tipped “power” in the hands of Republicans eager to mount an offense, even if it is deemed a symbolic one. Currently, Obama faces a lame duck second term, or he can use this moment to reach across the aisle.
Having “failed” in his political gamesmanship by pausing his vow to enact executive orders on illegal aliens, some pundits agree that he has little option than to work with his counterparts. Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have double-downed on their pre-election terms that simply said the president’s eventual choice to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder must be willing to oppose Obama on matters that run counter to Constitutional law. To the GOP establishment, the president’s “clear path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants is improper on ideological and legal fronts. Lee and Cruz released a joint statement.
“President Obama’s Attorney General nominee deserves fair and full consideration of the United States Senate, which is precisely why she should not be confirmed in the lame duck session of Congress by senators who just lost their seats and are no longer accountable to the voters. The Attorney General is the President’s chief law enforcement officer. As such, the nominee must demonstrate full and complete commitment to the law. Loretta Lynch deserves the opportunity to demonstrate those qualities, beginning with a statement whether or not she believes the President’s executive amnesty plans are constitutional and legal.”
The Republican senators point to Lynch’s “tough” and “fair” stance on justice, characteristics Obama touted upon her nomination. Democratic opponents are now calling on Holder’s presumptive replacement to live up to the track record she established in her career, while not injecting politics into the framework of the letter of law.
Source say that the GOP-controlled Senate will likely use this as a bargaining chip and precondition for Lynch to be confirmed as U.S. Attorney General. Cruz, Lee, and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have all held along that the new AG must not follow suit as Holder did and allow politics to distort the rule of law. The test is Obama’s presumed executive order on immigration, according to McConnell.
“As attorney general, Eric Holder too often put political and ideological commitments ahead of the rule of law. That’s not something the American people expect in the nation’s highest law-enforcement official, and it’s something Mr. Holder’s replacement should commit to avoiding at all costs as a condition of his or her confirmation — whether it relates to the President’s acting unilaterally on immigration or anything else.”
[Image via: Politico]
