1st LD Writethru: U.S. new justice chief sworn in after long delay amidst tense racial relations

After being delayed for five months due to partisan deadlock, Loretta Lynch on Monday was sworn in as the first African-American woman to head the U.S. Justice Department at a time when the nation is facing severe challenges to law enforcement reforms.

"We can imbue our criminal justice system with both strength and fairness, for the protection of both the needs of victims and the rights of all," said Lynch, 55, during her swearing-in ceremony at the Justice Department. "We can restore trust and faith both in our laws and in those of us who enforce them."

As the 83rd U.S. Attorney General, Lynch's earliest tests would include efforts to alleviate poisonous relations between police and African-American communities in several U.S. cities, which had witnessed widespread protests after white police officers allegedly use excessive force against unarmed African-American citizens.

Thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets in Baltimore, Maryland in protests over the death of a black young man Freddie Gray, who appeared to die from severe spinal injury caused during police arrest. Baltimore's Police Commissioner Anthony Batts acknowledged on Friday that Gray, 25, was not treated properly after being arrested.

Police brutality in the Gray case thrusts Baltimore into the epicenter of a nationwide debate over racial relations following a spate of deaths of unarmed black men caused by white police officers.

"The challenge in that... is to use the law to that end. To not just represent the law and enforce it, but use it to make real the promise of America, the promise of fairness and equality," she said.

Another challenge for Lynch is the reauthorization of the post 9/11 Patriot Act used to authorize the controversial practice by the National Security Agency to collect the Americans' cellphone records. The act is due to expire this June.

Lynch was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday after a five- month delay in which her nomination became first mired in partisan dispute over U.S. President Barack Obama's 2014 immigration executive actions and then a partisan stalemate over a human trafficking legislation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time. It's about time this woman is being sworn in," said Vice President Joe Biden during the ceremony. "We got tired of this wait. But you showed such grace and such humility during this whole process."

Despite delay, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York is seen by many as less controversial than her predecessor Eric Holder, the first U.S. African-American Justice chief who often went into confrontation with Congressional Republicans.

However, Lynch's stance on Obama's 2014 immigration policies would likely be a thorny issue between she and Republican lawmakers, who used to threaten a boycott against her nomination after she said during her confirmation hearing that she mostly supported Obama's 2014 executive actions on immigration that would shield as many as 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation. Endite