Kristen Clarke is the first Senate-confirmed woman of color to lead the Justice Dept.’s civil rights division.
Kristen Clarke spoke at the announcement of her nomination for attorney general for the civil rights division in Wilmington in January. Ms. Clarke’s nomination was confirmed on Tuesday.Credit.Doug Mills/The New York Times
May 25, 2021, 4:11 p.m. ET
The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Kristen Clarke to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division, making her the first woman of color to be confirmed by the Senate to do so.
Her confirmation comes at a time when the Biden administration has vowed to revitalize the division as part of its promise to combat systemic racism, hate crimes and restrictive voter laws.
Was Richard Nixon a Tragic Hero?
A combative Richard Nixon, March 1973Credit.Charles Tasnadi/Associated Press
Buy Book ▾
By David Greenberg
KING RICHARD
By Michael Dobbs
Let’s bracket Donald Trump until we get a little historical distance on him. For now this much is safe to say: Watergate was the greatest presidential scandal in American history, the direct cause of the only presidential resignation and the most serious constitutional crisis since the Civil War. Yet for a spell in the late 20th century, some commentators and a few historians imagined that this dark stain on our democracy would quickly fade away. Some of Richard Nixon’s loyalists predicted that his foreign policy would soon overshadow his lawlessness. Self-styled contrarians, sizing up the liberal climate and the Congress that had kept Nixon’s conservatism in check, misread this consummate opportunist as a supporter rather than an enemy of the Great Society, spinning out apologias for his domestic polic
Traditionally a federal backwater, the agency has stumbled while shepherding $1 trillion in emergency aid. Its leader vows “a more customer-first approach.”
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure becomes the first Black administrator confirmed to lead Medicare and Medicaid.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure testified before the Senate Finance Committee during her nomination hearing to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington in April.Credit.Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images
May 25, 2021, 1:10 p.m. ET
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, a former Obama administration health official, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, one of the most powerful posts at the Department of Health and Human Services. The vote was 55 to 44, with five Republicans joining Democrats to support her confirmation.
Biden Seeks to Replace Several Trump Appointees on Arts Commission
Several members of the Commission of Fine Arts were asked to step down, including its chairman, who promoted classical architecture as the preferred style for federal buildings.
A battle over whether there should be a preferred national style of architecture helped propel a generally low-key commission into the spotlight.Credit.Samuel Corum for The New York Times
May 25, 2021Updated 4:09 p.m. ET
Four of the seven members of the federal Commission of Fine Arts, a generally low-key, earnest design advisory group that became embroiled in battles over architectural style during the Trump era, have been told by the Biden administration to resign or face termination, according to the commission’s chairman.