Indian-American civil rights lawyer narrowly confirmed as Associate AG prokerala.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from prokerala.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The Senate has confirmed Vanita Gupta to be associate attorney general, the DOJ s No. 3 leadership position.
Gupta is a civil-rights advocate who has supported giving law enforcement more resources to do its job.
Her experience in civil rights and advocacy work has made her a favorite among progressive groups.
The president of one of the country s top police unions braced himself for a phone call in February that he expected wasn t going to be easy.
On the other end of the line was Vanita Gupta, a well-known civil rights champion, who at the time had just been nominated to serve under Attorney General Merrick Garland as the third highest-ranking official at the Justice Department.
The claims made against Gupta’s nomination are baseless.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee’s ranking member, has been reduced to insisting Gupta’s “public record is too extreme” despite acknowledging he “appreciate[s] the work that she has done on criminal justice reform.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, another Republican on the committee, went even further by suggesting Gupta’s track record “demonstrated an intolerance for and hostility to anyone that disagrees with the extreme left political positions.”
As inconvenient as it may be for Republicans hoping to sink her nomination, the facts are on Gupta’s side. In her confirmation hearing, Gupta plainly stated, “I do not support defunding the police. She explained, “I have in fact spent my career advocating, where it s necessary, for greater resources for law enforcement and things like body-worn cameras, wellness and safety programs and any number of measures.”
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Vanita Gupta is seated during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine her nomination to be associate attorney general on Capitol Hill March 9 in Washington.
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Bipartisanship is often invoked but rarely practiced in politics these days. Unfortunately, the confirmation fight over President Biden’s nominee for associate attorney general, Vanita Gupta, has become the latest example of partisanship crowding out substance in Washington.
Fair-minded senators like Sen. Pat Toomey have a reputation for rising above the red-vs.-blue fights that characterize so many current political debates. He should disregard the objections from some Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who value partisan obstruction over confirming nominees based on their qualifications.
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