Loretta Lynch, for the next U.S. attorney general, is a seasoned federal prosecutor with a solid reputation.
The Senate should not waste time before confirming her.
Now, that doesn’t mean senators should not ask her about important matters, such as her take on the limits of presidential power when it comes to immigration.
It’s also appropriate to ask Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, about civil liberties issues.
Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder certainly had on those matters. It was on his watch, for instance, that the Department of Justice secretly obtained Associated Press reporters’ phone records.
It would also be instructive to query Lynch on when terror suspects should be tried in civilian courts as opposed to military tribunals, and whether those in the financial industry whose actions helped precipitate the financial meltdown should face charges.
But Lynch is a qualified candidate, and short of an unexpectedly objectionable answer in the hearing, she should be confirmed.
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