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Loretta Lynch has just been officially nominated as Obama’s pick for U.S. Attorney General.
The White House announced Friday that it was likely President Barack Obama’s announcement would happen early Saturday. This was on the heels of ever-heightening rumors that Lynch would be the choice.
She will now go through the process of Senate approval to be confirmed in the position.
She will be replacing Eric Holder, who stepped down in September.
Here’s everything you need to know about the woman who will be the next U.S. Attorney General:
1. There Has Never Been a Female Black Attorney General
Eric Holder made history when he became Attorney General as the first African-American man to hold that position.
Previously, Janet Reno had been the first woman to be Attorney General, in office from 1993-2001.
2. She Was Apparently Eric Holder’s Pick to Replace Him
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Eric Holder announced in September that he was stepping down from his position but would stay on until a replacement was chosen.
The Daily News reported that a source told them that Holder was pushing for Lynch to be his replacement in the position.
Lynch seemingly has strong support for the nomination from those she has worked with in her home district, with the Daily News reporting in the same story that Chief Judge Carol Amon of the Eastern District of New York gave Lynch “an epic shoutout”, telling a room of “judicial VIPs” that she hoped Lynch would be named the next Attorney General.
3.She Recently Charged Michael Grimm in Her Role as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
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Lynch serves as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and all of Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island, and has since 2010.
Appointed by President Bill Clinton, she also held the position previously, from 1999 to 2001.
Her 2010 nomination won Senate approval easily, meaning she was potentially a choice more appealing to Republicans and less polarizing than some Obama loyalists who were in the mix for the position before the midterms.
She has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the indictment of Rep. Michael Grimm of Staten Island for fraud and the prosecution of the cops involved in the Abner Louima case, one of the city’s most prominent police brutality cases.
Of Grimm, a former undercover FBI agent, she said, “Michael Grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it.”
4. She’s a Preacher’s Daughter and Harvard Grad
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Lynch, 55, was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1959, to a Baptist minister and a school librarian. She was raised there before attending Harvard for her undergraduate degree in English.
She then went on to attend Harvard Law School, getting her JD in 1984.
She married Stephen Hargrove in 2007, and goes by Loretta Lynch Hargrove personally. She says she “relaxes by spending time with my husband and two step-children.”
5. She Does Pro-Bono Work for the Rwandan Genocide Prosecution
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She has said that one of her “most gratifying public service undertakings” is her work with the International Criminal Tribune for Rwanda.
It was established to prosecute those responsible for human right violations during the 1994 genocide there.
