President Obama’s nomination for the replacement of self-described “activist” Eric Holder seems to fall in line with the social justice agenda Holder said he hoped his successor would continue. Nine months ago, Obama’s nominee, US Attorney Loretta Lynch, told an audience that voter ID laws in the “Deep South” were designed to “take back so much of what Dr. King fought for” and promised the DOJ would continue to work against such discriminatory laws.
The voter ID comments came during a speech around nine months ago in Long Beach, NY focused on social justice (video above):
50 years after the march on Washington, 50 years after the civil rights movement, we stand in this country at a time when we see people trying to take back so much of what Dr. King fought for. We stand in this country. People try and take over the State House and reverse the goals that have been made in voting in this country.
But I’m proud to tell you that the Department of Justice has looked at these laws and looked at what’s happening in the Deep South, and in my home state of North Carolina has brought lawsuits against those voting rights changes that seek to limit out ability to stand up and exercise our rights as citizens. And those lawsuits will continue.
Lynch appears to owe her nomination in part to Al Sharpton, who applauded the announcement heartily Saturday (below) and had met with Lynch during the Abner Louima trial, a high-profile police brutality case. Obama nominated Lynch just two days after meeting with Al Sharpton at the White House. When Holder first announced that he would be stepping down, Sharpton said he was "engaged" with the White House in discussions on the new AG.