Civil and Human Rights Coalition Condemns North Carolina Senators for Opposing North Carolina Native Loretta Lynch for Attorney General

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in response to North Carolina’s two senators’—Richard Burr and Thom Tillis—opposition to the nomination of Loretta Lynch, who would be the first North Carolinian and first African-American woman to serve as Attorney General:

“North Carolina Senators Tillis and Burr should be ashamed of themselves for opposing Loretta Lynch’s nomination to be the first North Carolinian and first African-American woman to be U.S. Attorney General. They have failed an important test of statesmanship and their constituents should be outraged.

Lynch, born in Greensboro and raised in Durham, is a North Carolina success story who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most accomplished lawyers and prosecutors of her generation. As the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, she has prosecuted terrorists, mobsters, drug lords, gang members, corrupt politicians and sexual harassers. Her credentials are impeccable, so much so that Republicans could not find a single witness to testify that she should not be confirmed.

Their opposition to this extremely well-qualified nominee and native daughter of North Carolina is flimsily justified by their dislike of the policies of the Obama Administration. Tillis, in fact, has already cast a vote against her in the Judiciary Committee, while three other Republicans – Sens. Orrin Hatch, Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham – voted to advance her nomination to the full Senate.

To make it as far as she has in this country, Lynch has had to overcome obstacles and break through glass ceilings that Burr and Tillis have not had to confront in their own lifetimes. To understand these obstacles, they could look to be informed by the experiences of their own constituents, 22 percent of whom are African American. Or they could read the Wall Street Journal’s account of Lynch’s experience growing up in North Carolina where, ‘after much hand-wringing,’ administrators denied her the superlative of being their school’s first African-American valedictorian and instead honored multiple students at once. 

But it appears that Burr and Tillis would prefer history to repeat itself than to have this impeccably well-qualified nominee to be the first North Carolinian and first African-American woman to serve as attorney general. We hope they will reconsider their error of their position and vote to confirm Lynch when the Senate takes up the nomination.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

###