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Civil Rights Attorney Vanita Gupta is nominated to be the next Associate Attorney General
A new role at a challenging time in America
[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ven as the date of the Biden-Harris inauguration draws closer, there seems no end to the high drama of the elections with constant highs and lows. First came the high of the Georgia run-offs where the Democrats won both seats which will give the Biden Administration a majority in the Senate, vital to pass crucial legislation through.
Then on January 7 came the absolute low of an unruly mob of thousands of Trump supporters, instigated by the president, storming the iconic Capitol even as Congress members were tabulating the Electoral College votes. This seditious attack was a low point for American democracy with massive destruction, a lockdown in the Capitol, injuries and five deaths.
A day later the country is still shell-shocked by the potential danger of having Donald Trump in power for two more weeks and with calls for a second impeachment or the 25th Amendment which would remove him from office.
So in this dark period, it was reassuring to have President-Elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris introduce Americans to their sterling choices for the Department of Justice which has been battered by four years of Trump:
Judge Merrick Garland, nominee for Attorney General, Lisa Monaco, nominee for Deputy Attorney General, Vanita Gupta, nominee for Associate Attorney General; and Kristen Clarke, nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
[dropcap]“O[/dropcap]ur first-rate nominees are eminently qualified, embody character and judgment that is beyond reproach, and have devoted their careers to serving the American people with honor and integrity,” said Biden in introducing his four justice fighters. “They will use the full extent of their authority to move us closer to the American ideal of equal justice under law — de-politicizing and rooting out systemic racism from our laws, restoring voting rights, prosecuting hate crimes, eliminating racial disparities in sentencing, ending mandatory minimums, and restoring trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve through reforms that make our communities safer.”
Indeed, Indian-Americans will be particularly excited to have Vanita Gupta on this elite team for she has a long history of fighting for civil rights. “My parents were proud immigrants from India, an opportunity that was made possible by the civil rights movement and the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act,” she says. She will be the first woman of color to become Associate Attorney General, if confirmed. Currently she is the President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s leading civil and human rights coalition.
She has consistently made news for her bold, fearless moves. In fact, her first case, fresh out of law school and working with the ACLU, changed the lives of 35 mostly blacks who had been convicted on cocaine possession charges and sentenced for 60-300 years. This was almost 10 percent of the 5000 population of the small town of Tulia in Texas. She managed to have their convictions overturned and helped to negotiate a $ 6 million settlement for them, as well as have the drug task force responsible for this miscarriage of justice disbanded.
[dropcap]G[/dropcap]upta was a staff attorney at the ACLU, ultimately becoming the Deputy Legal Director and the Director of the Center for Justice. While at the ACLU, she led the Smart Justice Campaign aimed at ending mass incarceration. She then worked for the Obama-Biden Administration where she led the Civil Rights Division. “At every step, with every case, she has fought for greater equity and to right the wrongs in our justice system where they existed,” said Biden. “And she has done so by bringing people together, earning praise from across the ideological spectrum for her approach to solving some of the thorniest problems we face.”
During the Obama-Biden Administration, Gupta was put in charge of investigating abuse of power in police departments in Ferguson, Missouri, and other communities torn apart by acts of violence and racial injustice, and she helped build equity and trust. “She was commended for her work both by law enforcement and by those advocating for changes in the criminal justice system. That is a rare achievement — and it speaks volumes about her capacity to unite people in common purpose, which this is all about,” said Biden.
Gupta graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received her law degree from New York University School of Law but her passion for civil rights and equality began much earlier – when she was just four years old!
“One day I was sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant with my sister, mother and grandmother and as we ate our meals, a group of skinheads at the next table began shouting ethnic slurs at us, throwing food at us until we had to leave the restaurant. It is an early memory, but one that is seared in my mind. That feeling never left me, of what it means to be made to feel unsafe because of who you are,” she recalled.
Yet there was something else which empowered and strengthened her. “I kept another feeling with me though, too, and that is one that has been ingrained in me by my parents and shared by my husband, whose family said fled violence and war in Vietnam and sought refuge on these shores. They believed more than anything in the promise of America, and that loving this country brings with it the obligation to do the necessary work to make it better. Those two feelings for me converge in the work ahead of us.”
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]merica is beset with many challenges and this Department of Justice will be able to once again bring law, order and compassion into the equation. In her remarks Gupta noted: “Yesterday’s horrific events at the Capitol reminded us that our democracy cannot be taken for granted, that our nation has a long history of disinformation – white supremacist violence, mob violence. It also reminded us that our values and our democracy, these do not protect themselves. It is people with courage who do that…it will not be enough to restore what has been undermined or lost – this moment demands bold leadership.”
As VP-elect Kamala Harris said of this potential brave new Justice league, “In the face of both the damage that has been done to our Justice Department and our country’s long-overdue reckoning on racial injustice, these are the right leaders to meet this moment.”
(This was first published in my weekly column India in America in CNBCTV18.com)
