WS Chronicle

The United States has made history again, but without the votes of North Carolina’s two senators. Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr voted against the confirmation of North Carolina native Loretta Lynch. She became the first African-American woman attorney general of the United States when the Senate voted 56-43 to confirm her on Thursday, April 23 and when she was sworn in on Monday, April 27.

North Carolina’s senators have their reasons for being on the wrong side of history. Tillis said in a statement: “While I have immense personal and professional respect for Ms. Lynch, I ultimately voted against her because of her support for the President’s unconstitutional executive amnesty plan and her unwillingness to make a firm commitment to reverse the partisan politicization that presently exists at the Department of Justice.”

In March, he and Burr cited the Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed under former Attorney General Eric Holder, challenging a 2013 election overhaul passed by the General Assembly while Tillis was state House speaker.

Reasons for voting against Loretta Lynch are not sound. Neither senator said she was not qualified.

While her home state senators rejected her, other Republicans joined all Democrats in the Senate to confirm Loretta Lynch.

Ten Republicans voted for Lynch: Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Jeff Flake (Arizona), Thad Cochran (Mississippi), Susan Collins (Maine), Mark Kirk (Illinois), Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Rob Portman (Ohio).

If Mitch McConnell could put aside differences with President Obama to vote for Loretta Lynch, why couldn’t North Carolina’s senators?

Now the question is, will our senators work with the new attorney general or harbor an antagonistic posture against her as they did Holder, the first African-American male to gain that post? They had problems with him, too.