--- title: Democrats Turn Up the Heat on Stalled Loretta Lynch Nomination description: Democrats turned up the heat on Republicans for delaying a vote on Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch more than four months. canonical: https://time.com/3749207/loretta-lynch-nomination/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-18T16:54:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:15:11.129Z article:section: Politics og:title: Top Democrat: Nominee Told to 'Sit in the Back of the Bus' og:description: A top Senate Democrat argued the delay is tied to her race. og:url: https://time.com/3749207/loretta-lynch-nomination/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6feafb34b7ccffe/698767bae20a871cdfa833ce/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Justice Department Officials Announce Charges Against HSBC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Top Democrat: Nominee Told to 'Sit in the Back of the Bus' twitter:description: A top Senate Democrat argued the delay is tied to her race. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6feafb34b7ccffe/698767bae20a871cdfa833ce/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senate Democrat Says Nominee Told to 'Sit in the Back of the Bus' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 18, 2015 4:54 PM UTC  U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch arrives for a news conference to announce money laundering charges against HSBC on Dec. 11, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch arrives for a news conference to announce money laundering charges against HSBC on Dec. 11, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Ramin Talaie—Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 18, 2015 4:54 PM UTC Senate Democrats are turning up the heat on Republicans for delaying a vote on Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, implying that it’s tied to her race. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the upper chamber, argued that the four-month delay of Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated for the post, may be related to her race. Using wording suggestive of the days of segregation, he said that Lynch had been told to “sit in the back of the bus.” Durbin said that there was “no substantive reason” for delaying Lynch’s confirmation process, which has been the longest for an Attorney General nominee in 30 years and longer than the past five nominees combined. “This is the first African-American woman in the history of the United States to be nominated to serve as attorney general. It is a civil rights milestone,” said Durbin. “Why has the Senate Republican leadership decided to target this good woman and to stop her from serving as the first African-American attorney general of the United States of America? There is no good reason. There is no substantive reason.” “Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar,” he added. “That is unfair, it’s unjust, it is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate. This woman deserves fairness.” Durbin’s comments echoed those of Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who said Tuesday that race “certainly can be considered a major factor” in her delay. But Durbin’s rhetoric Wednesday is a clear escalation from those of his Democratic colleagues. White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated Tuesday that Lynch is well qualified for the post but did not remark on her race. “Well, let me just say that if Ms. Lynch were not confirmed by the United States Senate, it would be an astonishing display of partisanship,” said Earnest. “Particularly given the fact that not a single member of the United States Senate has raised a legitimate concern about her aptitude for that office.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that the Lynch vote won’t occur until after the Senate passes a bill that would help victims of sex trafficking, which Democrats have been filibustering recently over abortion provisions. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said that the Lynch nomination is next on the schedule and would occur as soon as Democrats lifted their obstruction. “The only thing holding up that vote is the Democrats’ filibuster of a bill that would help prevent kids from being sold into sex slavery,” said Stewart. “The sooner they allow the Senate to pass that bipartisan bill, the sooner the Senate can move to the Lynch nomination.” _With reporting by Maya Rhodan/Washington_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3749207/loretta-lynch-nomination/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3749207/loretta-lynch-nomination/"},"headline":"Senate Democrat Says Nominee Told to 'Sit in the Back of the Bus'","datePublished":"2015-03-18T16:54:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:15:11.129Z","description":"The White House has avoided making similar arguments","url":"https://time.com/3749207/loretta-lynch-nomination/","keywords":["Congress","White House","Department of Justice","attorney general"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6feafb34b7ccffe/698767bae20a871cdfa833ce/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6feafb34b7ccffe/698767bae20a871cdfa833ce/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Justice Department Officials Announce Charges Against HSBC","caption":"Justice Department Officials Announce Charges Against HSBC","creditText":"Ramin Talaie—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3749207/loretta-lynch-nomination/","name":"Senate Democrat Says Nominee Told to 'Sit in the Back of the Bus'"}}]}] ```