--- title: Loretta Lynch Asks Not to Be Considered for Supreme Court description: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has removed herself from the running to fill the vacant Supreme Court justice seat. canonical: https://time.com/4251928/loretta-lynch-supreme-court/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-09T00:53:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:20:37.183Z article:section: Politics og:title: Attorney General Loretta Lynch Asks Not to Be Considered for Supreme Court og:description: Due to "urgent issues before the Department of Justice" og:url: https://time.com/4251928/loretta-lynch-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c79d69b518c253/69888a363c1639b92b45c5af/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Meets With National Security Council At State Department og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Attorney General Loretta Lynch Asks Not to Be Considered for Supreme Court twitter:description: Due to "urgent issues before the Department of Justice" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c79d69b518c253/69888a363c1639b92b45c5af/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Attorney General Loretta Lynch Asks Not to Be Considered for Supreme Court  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 9, 2016 12:53 AM UTC  Attorney General Loretta Lynch looks on as President Barack Obama makes a statement after meeting with his National Security Council at the State Department on Feb. 25, 2016 in Washington, DC. Attorney General Loretta Lynch looks on as President Barack Obama makes a statement after meeting with his National Security Council at the State Department on Feb. 25, 2016 in Washington, DC.Drew Angerer—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 9, 2016 12:53 AM UTC U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch [has removed herself from the running](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/227fd2e790244901af1f0d1f1fd13bec/ag-lynch-says-shes-not-interested-supreme-court-vacancy) to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The attorney general’s name had been bandied about as a [possible successor to Scalia](http://time.com/4243221/obama-republicans-supreme-court-nominations/), who died last month at age 79\. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said Lynch was not interested in the role and wanted to serve in her current position for the rest of her term, according to the Associated Press. “Given the urgent issues before the Department of Justice, she asked not to be considered for the position,” Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement. The conservative Scalia’s death [upended the GOP](http://time.com/4220762/antonin-scalia-dead-republican-party-senate-congress/), and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary committee have said they would not hold any hearings for whoever President Obama nominates for the position. \[[AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/227fd2e790244901af1f0d1f1fd13bec/ag-lynch-says-shes-not-interested-supreme-court-vacancy)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4251928/loretta-lynch-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4251928/loretta-lynch-supreme-court/"},"headline":"Attorney General Loretta Lynch Asks Not to Be Considered for Supreme Court","datePublished":"2016-03-09T00:53:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:20:37.183Z","description":"Due to \"urgent issues before the Department of Justice\"","url":"https://time.com/4251928/loretta-lynch-supreme-court/","keywords":["Supreme Court"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c79d69b518c253/69888a363c1639b92b45c5af/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c79d69b518c253/69888a363c1639b92b45c5af/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Meets With National Security Council At State Department","caption":"Attorney General Loretta Lynch looks on as President Barack Obama makes a statement after meeting with his National Security Council at the State Department on Feb. 25, 2016 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Drew Angerer—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/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4251928/loretta-lynch-supreme-court/","name":"Attorney General Loretta Lynch Asks Not to Be Considered for Supreme Court"}}]}] ```