Loretta E. Lynch serves as the U.S. attorney general. She was nominated to the post by President Barack Obama in September 2014 and, upon confirmation more than half a year later, became the first African-American woman to serve in the position.

Lynch replaced Eric Holder, the nations first African-American attorney general.

The attorney general represents the United States in legal matters and serves as a consultant, of sorts, to the president and heads of the executive departments of the government.

According to the office, the attorney general also appears before the U.S. Supreme Court in matters of exceptional gravity or importance, though such appearances are rare.

Related Story: List of Attorneys General from 1980 to 2008

The attorney general also oversees the network of U.S. Attorneys based throughout the United States and is the fourth in the line of presidential succession behind the secretaries of State, Treasury and Defense.

The confirmation process for Lynch took longer than almost any other in history. In fact, only two other presidential nominations dragged on longer than hers: President Ronald Reagans choice for attorney general, Edwin Meese, and President Woodrow Wilsons, according to The New York Times, which cited the Congressional Research Service.

Republicans blocked the confirmation because of Lynchs defense of Obamas executive actions on immigration, which would have protects millions of people living in the United States illegally from being deporting, among other things.

Some Democrats, however, believed Republicans were merely throwing up roadblocks to her nomination because she was chosen by a president from the opposite party.

Here is a timeline of Lynchs professional career:

Lynch graduated from Harvard College in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree in English and American literature, and Harvard Law School in 1984 with a law degree.

On the right of people living in the United State illegally in the workforce: “I believe the right and the obligation to work is one that is

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