Hunger strike launched for Loretta Lynch

A civil rights group led by the Rev. Al Sharpton is launching a hunger strike to protest the delay in Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch’s confirmation.

{mosads}The National Action Network is calling the hunger strike “Confirm Loretta Lynch Fast.” A new group of women civil rights leaders and other protestors plan to fast each day that Lynch is not given a confirmation vote in an effort Sharpton said is inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi.

“These outstanding women leaders are taking an exemplary moral stand that should shake the conscience of the nation as to how unfairly this qualified woman is being treated by Senate leadership,” Sharpton said in a statement.

“As long as the Senate refuses to take fifteen minutes to confirm someone for Attorney General that they have already confirmed twice for U.S. Attorney, NAN and our allies will do everything in our power to draw attention to this completely unfair and unnecessary delay to vote to confirm Loretta Lynch.”

The National Action Network will also start a letter-writing campaign and head to congressional offices to encourage support for Lynch.

If confirmed, Lynch would be the first black female attorney general in American history.

Democratic lawmakers have panned the delay by Republicans, with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) taking to the Senate floor on Tuesday to lament that Lynch has spent more than 150 days without a full confirmation hearing.

But Republican leadership has said that it would bring up the Lynch nomination once the body passes a bill addressing human trafficking, which has been stalled by Democrats over concerns that it expands anti-abortion language.

Even if Lynch is given a confirmation vote, she’s expected to face one of the closet votes in years. A whip list compiled by The Hill shows only five Republican senators plan to support her. If the 46 Democrats and Independents don’t waver with their support, she’d pass by just one vote.