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Memories of Eric Holder loomed over Loretta Lynchs confirmation hearing as Republicans reminded the nominee for attorney general over and over that one of her most appealing qualities is that shes not him.

The departing attorney generals name was mentioned more than two dozen times at Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, leading Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) toprotest that Holder wasnt there to defend himself.

But Wednesdays Holder-bashing was but a warm-up for Thursdays second-day hearing, where the GOP has a series of anti-Holder witnesses on tap, including former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who is suing the Justice Department claiming the government illegally tapped her phones and laptops.

For now, weve assembled the top Holder-as-punching-bag moments.

1. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Lynch if she would uphold and defend the Constitution. Absolutely, sir, she said.

Im glad you said that. Attorney General Holder answered that same question in the same way, Hatch said, adding that Holder broke his promise and so he cast doubt about others who make the same commitment as you did today.

2. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.): Let me just stipulate, youre not Eric Holder, are you? Lynch replied, No, Im not, sir.

3. Cornyn, noting that Holder was heavy on our minds now, wondered if Lynch would consider herself a political arm of the White House as attorney general.

No, Senator, that would be a totally inappropriate view of the position of attorney general, Lynch said.

4. Cornyn couldnt quite let it go: So how do we know youre not going to perform your duties of office as attorney general the way Eric Holder has performed his duties? How are you going to be different?

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In the Loop: Loretta Lynch knows her name and its not Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder smiles during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, on Nov. 3, 2014.

Image: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

By Colin Daileda2015-01-28 19:12:31 UTC

United States Attorney General Eric Holder will soon be on to his next job presuming his potential replacement, Loretta Lynch, survives confirmation hearings before Congress this week.

Those hearings are expected to force Lynch to differentiate herself from Holder, who has acquired plenty of detractors since he landed the nation's top law enforcement job nearly six years ago.

Many of those detractors will have a say in how the Lynch hearings are carried out. We've listed some of the biggest Holder haters below:

Many GOP legislators have developed a deep dislike of Holder over the years, and were keen to criticize the attorney general when he announced last September that he would resign as soon as a replacement was confirmed.

Republican lawmakers have criticized Holder for not enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act, for trying to close the prison at Guantanamo, for obtaining the phone records of reporters and for mishandling a gun program run by federal agents in which the agents attempted to monitor illegal weapons after they were sold in Mexico, but didn't keep tabs on those weapons.

Holder allegedly did not share documents from the program with Congress, and GOP lawmakers voted to hold the attorney general in contempt.

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Holder's haters: outgoing attorney general has had many detractors

In her confirmation hearing Wednesday, would-be attorney general Loretta Lynch managed to subtly distance herself on the issue of immigration from controversial current Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., while still backing her boss, the president.

As the first Obama Cabinet nominee to face the new GOP-led Senate, Lynch was prepared for a grilling in her bid to become the first African American woman to hold the nations highest law-enforcement job.

But after a moving opening statement about her North Carolina upbringing by a preacher father and librarian mother, and a warm reception from most Republicans as well as Democrats, Lynch appeared on her way toward rapid confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The toughest questioning from senators involved two men who were not in the hearing room. Time after time, Republicans attacked Holder and President Obama.

Holder was a mentor to Lynch, appointing her to chair a key Justice Department committee. But during her testimony Wednesday, Lynch avoided coming to his defense and instead strove to strike a contrast, painting herself as a career prosecutor who empathizes with the cop on the beat, is willing to use the death penalty and opposes legalization of marijuana.

Saying the Constitution and not politics or personal views would be her "lodestar," Lynch vowed to forge a more cooperative relationship with Congress.

"I look forward to fostering a new and improved relationship with this committee, the United States Senate, and the entire United States Congress, she told lawmakers.

"Youre not Eric Holder, are you?" asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). "How are you going to be different?"

"I would be myself. I would be Loretta Lynch," the nominee responded. "I pledge that I want to hear your concerns. I want to discuss those issues with you."

Holder angered some law enforcement agencies by taking an early, outspoken role in leading the Justice Department investigation into the police shooting last year of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, in Ferguson, Mo. On Wednesday, Lynch struck a different note.

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Justice nominee Loretta Lynch to Senate panel: 'I am not Eric Holder'

Republicans in the Senate are planning to use their first high-profile confirmation hearing to put Eric Holder on trial.

GOP lawmakers plan to use Wednesdays examination of Loretta Lynch, the federal prosecutor picked by President Obama to replace Holder as attorney general, to air long-standing grievances with the Obama administration.

I think theres an erosion of confidence in the Department of Justice on the fundamental question of whether the attorney general politicizes the office, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Tuesday. We need an attorney general that wont politicize the office.

But while GOP lawmakers are relishing the opportunity to sink their teeth into Holders record, they also concede Lynch barring any misstep is likely to be confirmed.

Her reputation as being tough on crime has won praise from both sides of the aisle, with Fox News Host Bill OReilly calling her a hero last week, leaving the White House confident shell win over the Senate.

One aide said Tuesday the White House was looking forward to Mrs. Lynch showing the Senate Judiciary Committee and the American public just why she is so qualified for this position.

While Lynchs nomination appears assured, as Democrats need only a handful of Republicans to cross the aisle and support her nomination, she might have trouble staying out of the partisan crossfire at her confirmation hearing.

Republicans will be looking for areas where Lynch will demonstrate distance from Holder, who remains anathema to many on the right, and intend to ask her how she plans to do things differently.

The Justice Department is a big mess, said Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and we want to know how shes going to straighten out the department.

One of the biggest points of contention will undoubtedly be immigration on the heels of the presidents announcement late last year that he would use prosecutorial discretion to defer deportation for up to 5 million illegal immigrants.

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GOP seizes chance to put Holder on trial

Loretta Lynch promised to repair the Justice Department's toxic relationship with the GOP. That might be enough to get her the job.

A couple of hours into Loretta Lynch's lengthy confirmation hearing to be attorney general on Wednesday, Senator John Cornyn boiled the whole thing down to a single question.

"You're not Eric Holder, are you?"

"No, I'm not, sir," Lynch replied, as the crowded Senate room broke out in laughter.

With that response, she probably clinched the job. Lynch is the first prominent nominee of President Obama's to be considered by the Republican Senate majority, and the biggest incentive conservative lawmakers have for approving her nomination is to get Holder out of the Justice Department. Republicans grilled Lynch on many issues Wednesday, most aggressively on the legality of Obama's executive action on immigration. But at times, the hearing sounded more like an airing of GOP grievances against Holder than a job interview for his replacement.

For most of his six years as attorney general, Holder has had a notoriously toxic relationship with Republicans. The GOP-led House voted to hold him in contempt in 2012 over the Justice Department's refusal to turn over documents related to the "Fast and Furious" gun-running operation, and in recent years Holder has had heated exchanges with Republican lawmakers while testifying on Capitol Hill.

Lynch, 55, has served as the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn for the last five years (her second stint at that post), and she benefits, in the eyes of Republicans, from her lack of a close friendship with the president. Holder, by contrast, vacations with the Obamas and has described himself as "the president's wingman." Lynch didn't dissociate herself from Holder, but she made sure to promise "a new and improved relationship" with Congress. "If confirmed as attorney general, I will be myself," she said. "I will be Loretta Lynch." Republicans in turn treated her with far more respect and deference than they have Holder, even as she politely, but firmly, rebuffed their attempts to get her to criticize the president's immigration policy. (She did break away from Obama on a couple issues and indicated she was far more strongly opposed to the legalization of marijuana than he was, for example.)

The Attorney General From Brooklyn

Of course, just about every nominee for attorney general pledges independence and swears they'll impartially enforce the law. Holder's relationship with Republicans didn't deteriorate until after the Senate confirmed him to his post in 2009. Lynch's vote won't be unanimous; an immigration hawk, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, called her defense of the administration's policy "very troubling," and Senators Ted Cruz and David Vitter also seemed like "no" votes.

Still, the Republican leadership was already inclined to support Lynch, and nothing she said in the first several hours of her marathon testimony damaged her candidacy. "You're just knocking them out of the park," a proud fellow Brooklynite, Charles Schumer, gushed at one point. Yet when Senate Republicans vote to make her the nation's chief law enforcement officer in the coming weeks, it may not be as much about who she is, but who she's not.

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Republicans Will Confirm Loretta Lynch Because She's Not Eric Holder