Loretta Lynch becomes attorney general over opposition of Iowa senators, other Republicans

WASHINGTON - Loretta Lynch won Senate approval Thursday as U.S. attorney general, becoming the first black woman to occupy the post at a time when deadly altercations between white police and unarmed black men, immigration rule,s and presidential politics are emblazoned in the national debate.

After a rancorous process of bringing her nomination to a final vote, the margin of approval was wider than expected: Ten Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell joined the Senate's 44 Democrats and two independents in supporting Lynch, 55.

Forty-three senators, all Republicans including Iowa's two Republican senators, were opposed.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee where she testified weeks ago, opposed her then and again Thursday.

Ticking off a litany of complaints about current Attorney General Eric Holder, he said Lynch has too beholden to an office that became politicized.

'I sincerely hope Ms. Lynch proves me wrong and is willing to stand up to the president and say ‘No' when the duty of the office demands it,” he said. 'But based on my review of her record, I cannot support the nomination.”

Lynch is expected to be sworn in Monday as the nation's 83rd attorney general.

President Barack Obama said in a statement that 'America will be better off” with Lynch in charge of the Justice Department. 'She will bring to bear her experience as a tough, independent, and well-respected prosecutor on key, bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform,” he said.

Holder, stepping down after more than six years, said Lynch would be 'an outstanding Attorney General, a dedicated guardian of the Constitution, and a devoted champion of all those whom the law protects and empowers.”

Getting the Senate to a final vote was a spectacle for months - Obama nominated her in November.

'I guess I was naive in thinking my Republican colleagues would treat Loretta Lynch with the dignity that she and her office deserve,” Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. 'Perhaps my mistake was forgetting that for Republicans, this isn't about Loretta Lynch. It's about President Obama.”

The Senate, under Democratic control when she was nominated, did not act on it, preferring to spend the lame-duck session on judicial appointments that party leaders believed would stall in a Republican-controlled Senate.

A Republican Senate, the thinking went, would not dawdle in confirming a replacement for Holder, a target of Republican enmity. That proved not to be the case, especially after Lynch became entangled in a partisan rift over Obama's immigration policy.

During questioning before Grassley's committee, Lynch said she believed Obama's executive actions on immigration last year passed legal and constitutional muster.

'I have serious concerns with Loretta Lynch's intention to uphold President Obama's policies - especially executive amnesty,” said a statement from Iowa's Sen. Joni Ernst.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and a presidential candidate, said that, under Lynch, 'We are sadly going to see more and more lawlessness, more recklessness, more abuse of power, more executive lawlessness.”

Cruz spoke against Lynch on the floor Thursday morning but was the only senator to miss the final vote. Two other presidential candidates, Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., voted against her.

Lynch arrives as the nation's top law enforcement officer at a time of unprecedented public pressure for federal officials to respond to the growing list of confrontations between local police and unarmed citizens.

The Justice Department announced this week it was investigating last week's death in Baltimore of Freddie Gray, who died of a broken spine after being taken into police custody, the latest in a series of such controversies since the fatal Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

As a longtime federal prosecutor who has put cops in jail, yet also a favorite of the law enforcement establishment, Lynch brings credibility to the issue few others could muster.

'She is in a good position because she has earned credibility with the law enforcement community to begin with,” said James M. Cole, who had served as deputy attorney general.

The Washington Post and Tribune News Service contributed to this report.