Tapped to be President Obama’s next Attorney General, Loretta Lynch mostly floated above Senators’ questions during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday. The few times she did speak bluntly, however, revealed her intentions to cater to the security state.
The US Attorney in Brooklyn, Lynch appears headed for a swift confirmation as both sides of the aisle on the Senate Judiciary Committee praised her record and personal story, and mostly veered away from direct questioning and contentious debate.
In response to the question du jour for Republicans on the committee, Lynch carefully gave legal cover to the President’s recent executive actions deferring deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants. She said that based on her reading of Justice Department legal memos, she was confidant that the President’s action are within the realm of prosecutorial discretion.
“Prioritizing the removal of the most dangerous of undocumented immigrants, seemed to be a reasonable way to marshaled limited resources to deal with the problem,” she told Senators.
Her disciplined, cordial response to lawmakers’ questions usually began with a, “you raise important issues,” and ended with a pleasantry about how she “looks forward to continued discussions on these issues.”
In between, Lynch was able to stay away from the details and thorny issues inherent in many questions by admitting she didn’t know the particulars at hand, which largely went unchallenged by Senators.
But on issues concerning national security, she was rather direct.
Under questioning from surveillance-hawk Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lynch defended the White House’s so-called terrorist surveillance program. In particular, she said she supported Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act section 215 surveillance, which, as former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed, is used to collect bulk telephony metadata from millions of Americans.
“I believe that the court order provisions is an effective check as we gather data form all types of sources,” Lynch told Sen. Feinstein.
The orders come by way of classified decrees from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Critics of NSA spying accuse the court of creating secret law. Several lawmakers, including the author of the PATRIOT Act, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), have said that section 215 was never intended allow for such dragnet surveillance.
Lynch also said that other FISA spying authorities set to expire in June, like the roving wiretap and lone wolf provisions make up an “important part of the techniques we have used in the war on terror.”
She called the NSA’s activities “constitutional and effective.”
Not mentioned during the hearing were recent news reports about spy tools deployed by federal police like license plate readers, “dirtboxes,” and radar equipment that raise privacy concerns. As The Sentinel reported last week, members of the judiciary committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding answers about the use of this technology.
Showing a more dovish side, Lynch was equally as direct in response to a question from Sen. Patrick Leahy about waterboarding.
“Waterboarding is torture, Senator,” she said. “And thus illegal.”
However, during the most direct questioning of the morning from Sen. Graham, she did not appear eager to seem like a progressive stalwart.
Under examination from Graham, Lynch said she believes in the death penalty, calling it “an effective penalty.” Her home state of New York has ditched capital punishment since the state’s high court ruled it unconstitutional in 2004.
Lynch also concurred with Sen. Graham’s claims about the threat of terrorism. “We are seeing an increased number, and probably the highest number, of threats that I have seen not just from terrorist activity,” but also “cyber crime,” she claimed.
When asked about enforcing federal laws prohibiting marijuana in an atmosphere where states have adopted legalization measures, Lynch promised to tow the “war on drugs” line. “It would certainly be my policy, if confirmed as attorney general, to continue enforcing the marijuana laws.”
A recent tension between police and minority communities was only briefly mentioned during the hearing. Lynch called it “one of the most important issues facing the country.” However, she steered away from commenting about racism at the heart of community mistrust. Instead, she blamed mistrust in government in general.
Like Eric Holder, who once admitted that some banks are simply too big to prosecute, Lynch is unlikely to inspire much hope among those who want to see Wall Street suits behind bars. In 2012, when HSBC was accused of laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and breaking economic sanctions against Iran and several other nations, then US attorney Lynch declined to force the bank to trial. Instead, she opted for a settlement that saw the bank pay out a manageable $1.9 billion and undergo five years of monitoring.
The IB Times reported on Tuesday that Lynch partially omitted her role in the HSBC case in a Senate questionnaire ahead of the nomination hearing. Senators didn’t mention the affair.
