Prosecutor with a calling: Loretta Lynch ’84, the next attorney general of the United States

Loretta Lynch ’84 appeared at her January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee only days after a new Republican majority openly hostile to her predecessor assumed control of the panel. Halfway through the daylong hearing, John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s second-ranked Republican, asked Lynch: “You’re not Eric Holder, are you?” Lynch, known as an unflappable prosecutor of drug dealers, corrupt politicians and terrorists, calmly replied that no, in fact, she wasn’t. “If confirmed as attorney general, I will be myself,” she said. “I will be Loretta Lynch.”