The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed a U.S. Attorney nominee for Eastern District of New York by voice vote at its meeting Thursday.
Loretta Lynch (Hogan & Hartson)
Loretta Lynch’s nomination will be placed on the Senate Executive Calendar, eligible for floor consideration. Lynch was nominated on Jan. 20 to replace interim U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell. She is a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, serving from 1999 to 2001, after nine years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. She is currently a partner at Hogan & Hartson. Read more about her here.
The committee schedule initially showed that the panel would also consider Eastern District of Kentucky U.S. Attorney nominee Kerry Harvey. But he wasn’t listed on the panel’s agenda Thursday. A committee spokeswoman said his initial inclusion on the agenda was an error.
The committee has now approved 41 U.S. Attorney nominees, 36 of whom have won Senate confirmation. The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 25 would-be U.S. Attorneys.
Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday called on panel members to move “more expeditiously” on U.S. Attorney nominees. He said the number of would-be U.S. Attorneys stalled in the Senate is “unusual.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee’s ranking Republican, said Wednesday that the panel shouldn’t be faulted for failing to get more U.S. Attorneys through the Senate. He said there is a “lack of nominations” coming out of the White House.
