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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Loretta Lynch's immigration roadblock

    She’s likely to be confirmed, but her stance on Obama’s immigration policy is triggering more opposition

    By Seung Min Kim
    2/25/15 8:18 PM EST

    After Sen. John McCain left a private meeting with Loretta Lynch in December, the Arizona Republican was inclined to support her nomination to become the nation’s top law enforcement official. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) also met with Lynch that month, saying she would most likely back her unless some issue arose during confirmation hearings.

    Now, both senators plan to vote against Lynch to be the next attorney general.

    Their changed stances illustrate how toxic President Barack Obama’s sweeping executive actions on immigration have become in Lynch’s bid to succeed Eric Holder at the Justice Department. Her nomination has effectively become a proxy war over the controversial unilateral moves, rather than about the veteran federal prosecutor’s background and credentials.

    Aides from both parties still expect the federal prosecutor from New York to be confirmed when her nomination hits the Senate floor, likely next month. But her testimony last month that she believes Obama’s immigration actions are legal have clearly influenced Republicans who were once seen as potential votes in Lynch’s favor.

    “I was really disturbed by her comments at the hearing with regards to her support of the presidential actions,” Fischer said Wednesday, referring to immigration and other issues. “I’m very disturbed and disappointed by her comments. Not what I expected to hear from her after our visit in my office.”

    McCain, who is up for reelection in 2016 and could face a primary challenge from his right, was warming to Lynch soon after she was nominated by Obama, saying, “Certainly I’m supportive.” But he wanted to watch what happened during her confirmation hearings.

    “I think she’s probably a pretty fine person,” McCain now says. “But when she said she thought that the president’s executive orders were ‘reasonable,’ I can’t support her. I can’t support her.”

    Lynch faces a pivotal vote Thursday as the Senate Judiciary Committee — where she had a mostly smooth performance last month during her confirmation hearing — votes on sending her nomination to the full Senate. A handful of Republicans on the committee have signaled support for Lynch, including Orrin Hatch of Utah, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — ensuring that she’ll pass the first key vote.

    Obama’s sweeping executive actions on immigration, which were issued last November and could protect more than 4 million immigrants here illegally from deportation and give them work permits, have played a central role in the new Republican majority’s first two months on Capitol Hill. The actions also are at the heart of the dispute over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

    But those unilateral moves have also been a centerpiece in the attorney general fight. Immigration and Obama’s executive actions dominated Lynch’s nearly eight-hour confirmation hearing last month, and Republicans seized on her comments that the deportation deferrals are legal, a view in line with a Justice Department legal memo issued in November.

    A federal judge has blocked those actions from going forward, but the Obama administration is appealing the decision. But in the context of the attorney general battle, Obama’s immigration actions have stirred consternation even among Republicans who are generally inclined to let a president install his own nominees.

    “I’m deeply concerned about her refusal to put limits on the president’s executive power,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday when asked about Lynch.

    When her nomination heads to the floor, Lynch will need just five Republican votes to be confirmed. Senate rules pushed through by Democrats in 2013 require only a simple majority for most nominations. (If she gets four Republicans and all 46 Democrats, then Vice President Joe Biden would break the tie.) So far, in the new GOP-controlled Senate, Republicans have left that threshold as is.

    Lynch should clear that hurdle, but it’s uncertain just how much higher she’ll go beyond 51 votes.

    “I had an excellent meeting with her,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key moderate, said in a brief interview Wednesday. “I’m inclined to support her unless something comes up.”

    Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a potential presidential contender in 2016, said he is formally undecided but that he is “very concerned” about Lynch’s nomination.

    “I think the president’s just made a very serious constitutional mistake and violated our Constitution by issuing that executive order,” Rubio said Wednesday. “And the fact that she believes it’s constitutional concerns me about her judgment.”

    But other Senate Republicans, including those up for reelection next year, said they are undecided on Lynch.

    “I know a lot of people have some misgivings” about her nomination, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Wednesday, so he wants to take time to do his research. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said his support will “entirely hinge” on his upcoming meeting with Lynch, and he plans to focus solely on the issue of gangs in Chicago and federal efforts to combat them.

    “I’m not someone who always votes ‘no’,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is also up for reelection next year in a swing state. “I believe the president has certain prerogatives when it comes to who he picks. But I want to make sure it’s the right person.”

    Other Republican senators who could potentially support Lynch were looking to other issues.

    Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said he met with the attorney general nominee on Tuesday and the conversation focused on online gaming and federal efforts to police illicit gaming. On immigration, “I take exception to some of the actions that the president has made and the fact that she’s supporting it, but it isn’t the most important,” Heller added.

    For their part, Lynch’s boosters are trumpeting her law enforcement credentials with key outside endorsements, hoping those affirmations carry weight with Republicans who normally ally with police and prosecutors.

    Earlier this week, former New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly issued a statement supporting Lynch. And the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which has more than 22,000 members, wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday, urging senators to confirm her “rapidly.”

    Grassley himself has not publicly said whether he will support Lynch, the current U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York; he said he’ll announce his position at Thursday’s hearing.

    Conservatives are urging the Senate to reject her. Earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) penned an op-ed in POLITICO demanding that his party do everything possible to reject Lynch’s bid for attorney general. And more than 50 House lawmakers called on senators who sit on the Judiciary Committee to oppose her nomination, alleging in a letter this week that Lynch has “demonstrated an unwillingness to depart from the politicization of justice we have seen from Eric Holder.”

    Democrats have mounted a vigorous defense of Lynch, who would be the nation’s first black female attorney general if confirmed.

    Though their support was never in doubt, Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Sherrod Brown of Ohio released statements Wednesday, praising Lynch. And Democrats have criticized Republicans for seemingly dragging their feet on her nomination, while GOP senators have defended how they’ve handled the process.

    “Rather than seeking to score political points for their next election,” said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, “senators should consider Ms. Lynch’s long and laudable record of public service.”

    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/0...ns-115516.html
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    We must not approve more Judges who think it's okay for illegal aliens or Presidents to break US immigration law.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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