Oral history interview with Loretta E. Lynch, 2020
Abstract
Loretta Lynch discusses her service as attorney general during the presidency of Barack Obama. Lynch focuses on shifts in the Department of Justice's prosecution and investigation of terrorist incidents, reacting to increases in homegrown extremism, attacks on soft targets, online radicalization, and violent hate crimes. Lynch provides details about the high profile 2015 shootings in Charleston and San Bernardino, and at the Pulse nightclub in 2016, including discussion of the Department's relationship with Silicon Valley firms and debates over digital privacy. Lynch also describes the Department's response to the 2015 Baltimore protests, and the administration's pursuit of criminal justice reform, both through legislation and executive action. She also discusses Department reviews of drug enforcement, solitary confinement, community policing programs, and the Smart on Crime initiative, which was introduced in 2013
Presidents--United States; Pulse Nightclub Shooting, Orlando, Fla., 2016; Charleston Church Shooting, Charleston, S.C., 2015; Baltimore Riots, Baltimore, Md., 2015; Terrorism--Prevention--United States; Solitary confinement--United States; Community policing--United States; United States--Department of Justice; Attorneys general--United States; Women attorneys general--United States; Hate crimes--United States; Radicalism--United States; Lynch, Loretta, 1959-; Obama, Barack; Smart on Crime (Initiative); United States. Department of Justice
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2020
Physical Description
107 pages
Note (Biographical)
Loretta Lynch served as attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that, she was U.S. attorney for the eastern district of New York from 2010 to 2015. A Harvard Law School graduate, she was a private practice lawyer in New York before becoming a federal prosecutor in 1990, rising to become head of the eastern district office. From 2003 to 2005, she served on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York board. In May 2019, Lynch returned to the private sector and became a partner in the litigation department at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison
Note
Interviewed by Nicole R. Hemmer on February 12, 2020, and February 13, 2020. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Loretta Lynch, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022