Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley expressing the unequivocal support of LDF for the nomination of Vanita Gupta, an LDF alum, to serve as the Associate Attorney General of the United States. Ms. Gupta was a member of the LDF staff from September 2001 to August 2006 and during that time she worked tirelessly to advance LDF’s mission.
At this critical moment in the history of our country, it is of paramount importance that the Department be led by lawyers with a demonstrated commitment to integrity, independence, civil rights, and equal justice under the law. As President Biden recently noted, “[The Justice Department] was formed in 1870 to enforce the civil rights amendments that grew out of the Civil War. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. To stand up to the Klan, to stand up to racism, to take on domestic terrorism. This original spirit must again guide and animate its work.
Ms. Gupta has the requisite qualifications, talent, and integrity to excel as Associate Attorney General. Moreover, her unassailable reputation as a consensus builder and her record as a brilliant civil rights attorney make her an invaluable addition to the leadership of the Department of Justice. We urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance her nomination without delay and for the full Senate to confirm the nomination.
Read the full letter here.
