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By Adam Levy, CNN

updated 6:09 PM EST, Tue December 9, 2014

GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch calls Loretta Lynch a "top-flight person" to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington (CNN) -- The Senate Republican's most senior member is ready to support President Barack Obama's attorney general nominee, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

Orrin Hatch, a high-ranking member of the upper chamber's judiciary committee, spoke to reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill about Lynch's credentials and Republican's desire to see Eric Holder, the current attorney general, leave office.

"She appears to be a very top-flight person," he said. "And if conservatives do want to get rid of the attorney general, this is a good option because she would replace him and do a very a good job."

Holder is one of the more controversial members of the Obama cabinet. Seen as overly partisan by Republicans, the House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress in 2012 for refusing to turn over documents linked to Operation Fast and Furious. The announcement of his resignation in September was welcome by those opponents.

Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, was nominated by Obama last month to replace Holder, who has served as head of the Justice Department since the beginning of the Obama administration. She's easily passed through the Senate twice for her nominations as a federal prosecutor.

"I can think of no better public servant to be our next attorney general," the President said when he nominated Lynch. "It's my hope that the Senate will confirm her for a third time without delay."

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Top Republican: Obama's AG pick Lynch is a 'top-flight person'