If true,
a bold strategy:
No decisions have been made on when the Senate will take up Lynch’s nomination to be the nation’s chief law enforcement official, officials said Monday. But one Democratic leadership aide said senators were leaning toward installing Lynch in the new Congress, when the GOP will be in control of the chamber.
Senate Democrats are banking on the view that the twice-confirmed Lynch, who would be the nation’s first black female attorney general with the Senate’s blessing, would be qualified enough to be confirmed under a Democratic- or GOP-led chamber.
“She should have no difficulty whatsoever on the merits,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview Monday. “There is not a scintilla of factual basis to challenge her.”
This would be a daring move, and also unexpected: just a few days ago, reports indicated that Democrats were strongly leaning toward nominating Lynch during the lame-duck session. While incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been
sent positive signals about Lynch's nomination and confirmation process, the tea-flavored wing of the Senate plans to
make the nomination a referendum on President Obama's intention to issue an executive order on immigration. Sens. Lee, Cruz and Sessions have declared that they will oppose any nominee who does not think that the president's intended executive order is illegal.
By signaling their intention to wait until the beginning of the 114th Congress to nominate Lynch as attorney general as opposed to moving her nomination during the final two months of Democratic stewardship of the Senate, the Obama administration and Democratic leadership are signaling quiet confidence that they can accede to Republican demands to have the newly elected Senate take up the nomination, while still having enough Republican votes to confirm the nomination. If true, it’s a win-win strategy: they will circumvent the political risk of moving a high-profile nomination during the lame duck session, all while the tea party wing of the Republican Senate turns off minority voters by holding a black woman’s nomination hostage to Mr. Obama’s plans on immigration.
But if Democrats are wrong and Senate radicals manage to vote down Lynch’s nomination, Democrats will be able to point out that Republicans voted down a highly qualified nominee for reasons that had nothing to do with her qualifications. And if that happens, Eric Holder will still be running the Department of Justice, and that will drive Republicans ever further up a wall.