[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 65 (Thursday, April 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1957-S1958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          MOTION TO DISCHARGE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, pursuant to S. Res. 27, the Judiciary 
Committee being tied on the question of reporting, I move to discharge 
the Senate Judiciary Committee from further consideration of the 
nomination of Vanita Gupta, of Virginia, to be Associate Attorney 
General.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the provisions of S. Res. 27, there will 
now be up to 4 hours of debate on the motion, equally divided between 
the two leaders, or their designees, with no motions, points of order, 
or amendments in order.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to ask the Chair for 
clarification. It is my understanding there is 4 hours of debate, 
evenly divided between the Democrats and Republicans, on the discharge 
petition.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes, between the leaders or their designees.
  Mr. DURBIN. And either side can yield back; is that correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. DURBIN. Thank you.
  Mr. President, let me be the first to rise today on our side and say 
that I am in strong support of the nomination of Vanita Gupta to be the 
Associate Attorney General.
  The Justice Department has not had a Senate-confirmed Associate 
Attorney General in over 3 years because President Trump never put 
forward a nominee. The No. 3 position in the Department of Justice has 
been virtually vacant of a Senate-confirmed nominee for 3 years.
  That position, by definition, oversees the Department's civil 
litigation components. This is no small deal. It is a big deal. The 
Department of Justice needs and deserves to have full leadership in 
place.
  Vanita Gupta will be the first woman of color and the very first 
civil rights attorney to serve as Associate Attorney General. This 
historic nominee is also exceptionally well qualified. She is a veteran 
of the Justice Department. She has a proven record of working across 
political and ideological lines to uphold the rule of law in a 
nonpartisan fashion. I don't believe President Biden could have picked 
a better nominee.
  Vanita Gupta first joined the Justice Department shortly after the 
shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, MO. I 
remember it. I am sure many of my colleagues do as well. It was a 
difficult moment for many. As the head of the Department's Civil Rights 
Division, Ms. Gupta worked closely with all of the stakeholders 
involved in police reform: community leaders, civil rights leaders, and 
law enforcement.
  Not only did Ms. Gupta implement meaningful reforms in Ferguson, MO, 
and other cities, but she did so by helping to repair the relationship 
between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Can you think 
of a better qualification at this moment in time in our history?
  Sadly, in recent days, our Nation has been rocked by controversial 
police shootings. Vanita Gupta is exactly the type of person we need at 
the Justice Department at this very moment. One strong piece of 
evidence is the incredibly broad range of support her nomination has 
received. When you say the words ``civil rights lawyer,'' you say, 
``Oh, way off on the left. I will bet she is out of touch with 
reality.''
  Not so. It is not just the civil rights groups that support her. Her 
nomination has the support of virtually every major law enforcement 
organization in the country. I want to repeat that because in the 
ensuing several hours, when we will discuss the discharge of her 
nomination, there will be assertions made which do not acknowledge the 
obvious.
  Vanita Gupta has the support of virtually every major law enforcement 
organization in the country, including the Fraternal Order of Police, 
the National Sheriffs' Association, the Major Cities Chiefs 
Association, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 
just to name a few.
  I can read numerous quotes from law enforcement groups praising Ms. 
Gupta. I am going to read one. In a letter to the Senate, David 
Mahoney, President of the National Sheriffs' Association, said:
  ``I strongly believe that Ms. Gupta is exactly the type of leader who 
is needed in the Justice Department today. She possesses immense 
credibility among law enforcement leaders and community leaders.''
  Immense credibility, with both law enforcement and community leaders. 
Isn't that exactly the type of person we need in the Department of 
Justice at this moment in history?

  It comes as no surprise when you look back on her background. 
Throughout her career, Ms. Gupta has worked across the partisan divide, 
forming broad coalitions to get things done when people said it was 
impossible. A great example of this is criminal justice reform. Over a 
number of years, Vanita Gupta partnered with numerous conservatives--
certifiable, reported conservatives. Let me give you a couple names: 
Grover Norquist; Mark Holden, the former general counsel of Koch 
Industries.
  These efforts helped lay the groundwork for the passage of the FIRST 
STEP Act, a bill which I worked on with Senator Grassley, Senator Lee, 
Senator Whitehouse, Senator Cornyn, a number of Democrats, Cory Booker 
included. We put together a bipartisan bill, signed into law by the 
President of the United States.
  Vanita Gupta was part of that effort. She knew how to put Republicans 
and Democrats at the table and come up with a reasonable compromise. 
Isn't that exactly what we need at this moment in history?
  The Judiciary Committee has received so many letters from Republicans 
supporting Ms. Gupta's nomination that I only have time to scratch the 
surface. Former Republican Congressman Tom Coleman, whom I served with 
in the House, put it very well. He represented Missouri's Sixth 
Congressional District for 16 years. He understood the challenge of 
Ferguson, and he understands the record of Vanita Gupta. Here is what 
he wrote: ``Ms. Gupta is a person who seeks the common good, without 
concern for partisan gamesmanship.''
  He added: ``I urge you, my former colleagues, to recognize the truth 
with respect to Vanita Gupta: She is an ideal public servant. She 
possesses wisdom and an ability to work across partisan lines.''
  Ms. Gupta has spent her career fighting to uphold the rule of law, 
almost always on behalf of those who had little power or little money. 
In her previous tenure at the Justice Department, Vanita Gupta 
undertook critically important work. In addition to police reform, she 
led efforts to prosecute human trafficking, combat religious 
discrimination, and protect the rights of servicemembers to ensure that 
they didn't have to be worried about being taken advantage of 
financially while they were protecting our Nation.

[[Page S1958]]

  More recently, during her tenure at the Leadership Conference on 
Civil and Human Rights, Ms. Gupta led initiatives on voting rights, 
criminal justice reform, and the census.
  Ms. Gupta began her career as a civil rights lawyer with the NAACP 
Legal Defense and Educational Fund. One of the first matters she worked 
on as a young attorney involved nearly 40 wrongfully convicted 
individuals in the small town of Tulia, TX. The individuals who had 
been wrongfully convicted were almost all African Americans, and they 
had been convicted of drug charges based solely on the false testimony 
of one corrupt, blatantly racist undercover police officer.
  How about walking into that situation, trying to resolve that 
situation. She did. Despite being completely innocent, these 
individuals were sitting in jail, and their appeals had been rejected. 
Vanita Gupta took their case anyway.
  As a result of her work, not only were these individuals exonerated, 
but they received pardons from the Republican Governor of Texas, Rick 
Perry, and Texas eventually paid out a $6 million settlement. That is 
nothing short of a political miracle, and she achieved it by hard work, 
being smart as can be, and reaching out to both sides to find some area 
of agreement.
  Ms. Gupta's commitment to ensure the equal protection of the law has 
been praised by Republicans and Democrats alike. Michael Chertoff, 
former Secretary of Homeland Security under President George Bush, said 
about Ms. Vanita Gupta in a letter to the Senate. ``She is a relentless 
advocate for fairness and the rule of law.''
  How would you like to have that as the lead sentence of your legal 
biography: ``a relentless advocate for fairness and the rule of law.'' 
How would we like to have a person like that in this administration, in 
the Department of Justice? Obviously, we would jump at the chance.
  She is the right person at the right time. She will bring experience, 
dedication, and a nonpartisan approach to the role of Associate 
Attorney General, and I urge my colleagues to support her nomination.
  Now, if you heard what I just said about Vanita Gupta, you might 
think: Why was this a tie vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee? 
First, it is an evenly divided committee: 11 Democrats, 11 Republicans. 
And there are a lot of things going on, on both sides of the table, 
when it comes to the final vote on nominees like this.
  Several Republicans told me they might be leaning in her direction 
but they couldn't vote for her in the committee. I hope they will 
reconsider when it comes to the floor
  And there was another thing going on too. Rightwing groups were 
spending millions--millions--of dollars on television in Washington 
trying to attack the reputation and character of Vanita Gupta.
  I think I have made it clear. Vanita Gupta is highly qualified and 
historic, with broad support from law enforcement and civil rights 
organizations, advocates across the political spectrum. She, clearly, 
on the merits, will be an outstanding Associate Attorney General.
  But every step of the way, her detractors have tried to delay and 
obstruct her nomination. We saw that in our Judiciary Committee markup 
on March 25. I allowed committee Republicans to speak for 94 minutes 
about Ms. Gupta's nomination at markup. One Senator from Texas spoke 
for 29 minutes himself. I didn't cut him off.
  But someone on the Republican side made the decision to invoke the 2-
hour rule, a Senate rule that says that a committee cannot operate more 
than 2 hours after the Senate comes into session, to try to cut off the 
markup for the vote even before the vote.
  I had received assurances earlier that the 2-hour rule would not be 
invoked, but at 11:55, with barely 5 minutes to spare, I was told the 
other side had changed their mind. Just as the previous two chairs of 
the committee, Senators Graham and Grassley, had done in the past, I 
ended debate, notwithstanding committee rule IV, and called for a vote 
on the nomination.
  I won't go into a debate over committee rule IV other than to say it 
is a doomsday filibuster. Any Senator can object to the business in the 
Senate Judiciary Committee and virtually stop all proceedings 
indefinitely. There is no recourse.
  I gave Republicans ample time to make their arguments in the 
committee. I was prepared to give them even more time until the 2-hour 
rule was invoked. But someone on the other side decided to force my 
hand. I had to act quickly.
  I told Republicans in writing in a March 24 letter that we would hold 
a vote on Ms. Gupta's nomination the next day, and I meant it. In the 
future, I would be happy to limit the number of minutes that Senators 
can speak in order for all Senators to have an opportunity, but at this 
moment in time, we have to accept the obvious.
  Vanita Gupta has been subjected to blatantly false attacks from many 
rightwingers and conservative, dark money groups. Republicans have 
falsely claimed that she supports defunding the police. Be prepared. 
You are going to hear this mantra again and again.
  In reality, Gupta has the support of virtually every major law 
enforcement organization in America. Republicans have made false claims 
about Gupta's position on drugs. For example, the senior Senator from 
Texas alleged that Gupta previously advocated, ``All drugs should be 
legal.'' In reality, Vanita Gupta has never advocated that all drugs 
should be legal. As the senior Senator from Texas knows, Gupta did 
write, 9 years ago, that she favored decriminalizing the ``simple 
possession'' of ``small amounts'' of marijuana and other drugs.
  Take a look at what we have done with sentencing and drug crimes in 
America, even under the Trump administration.
  At her hearing, Ms. Gupta was completely forthright in explaining 
that she changed her mind over the years in terms of decriminalizing 
drug possession, due in part to a family experience with opioid 
addiction.
  Republicans have criticized Ms. Gupta's past statements on Twitter, 
despite the fact that they strongly supported President Donald Trump 
and many of his nominees, many of whom were just White males, who made 
such harsh statements in speeches and social media posts that they were 
legendary.
  Republicans have argued that Gupta is radical and dangerous. In 
reality, Vanita Gupta has a career-long record of working closely with 
conservatives, business leaders and community leaders and law 
enforcement. That is why she has the support of so many prominent 
Republican leaders now.
  I am looking forward to voting for her and to watching her serve in 
the Department of Justice. She will follow the trail that she set in 
her legal career, looking for solutions, bringing us together. Can you 
think of a moment in history in this country when we needed that more? 
I can't.
  Every day we have these conflicting stories coming at us, from the 
courts in Minnesota on a question of George Floyd and the culpability 
for his death to a situation here in the Capitol, where we are honoring 
law enforcement when Officer Billy Evans of the Capitol Hill Police 
gave his life serving this country.
  We are torn trying to find the right combination for law enforcement 
that is sensible and principled and humane. We need someone like Vanita 
Gupta at the table in the Department of Justice, leading. I hope her 
critics will have second thoughts.
  Give this outstanding woman an opportunity to serve her country even 
more than she has in the past.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Peters). The Senator from Utah.