Loretta Lynch, Barack Obama’s choice to replace Eric Holder as America’s attorney general, might not have the votes to get confirmed by Congress.
Right now, just days before her nomination goes to the Senate floor, she has only 50 votes on her side, the bare minimum needed for confirmation–so bare, in fact, that it would even require Vice President Joe Biden to break a tie.
Worse, Republicans who previously committed their support are beginning to turn away from her–and many more could follow over the next few days, which would scuttle her nomination.
Some of the anxiety comes from their lingering anger towards outgoing attorney general, Eric Holder. Holder had a famously acrimonious relationship with Congress, becoming the first attorney general in American history to be held in Contempt of Congress for refusing to sufficiently answer questions related to the Fast and Furious debacle.
But most Republicans are outraged at her stance on immigration–she believes Barack Obama’s executive orders on amnesty are legal.
“I think it’s a big issue,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia explained. “I think that’ll weigh on the decision that I would make too.”
Capito has not yet made her decision on whether to confirm or reject Lynch’s nomination.
Sen. Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, who is also undecided, had even more pointed criticism: He’s “deeply concerned about her refusal to put limits on the president’s executive power” on issues like immigration.
Despite Republican opposition, Lynch currently has just enough votes to get confirmed–if Joe Biden steps in–but, either way, this confirmation fight will be a nailbiter.
