[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S2090]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF VANITA GUPTA

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on a related subject, part of that 
effort, though modest, is installing committed, experienced, 
compassionate civil rights leaders in positions of power in the Justice 
Department, our Nation's top law enforcement Agency. It just so happens 
that, today, the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Ms. Vanita 
Gupta to be the next Associate Attorney General.
  Not only is Ms. Gupta the first woman of color to ever be nominated 
to the position, she is the first civil rights attorney ever to be 
nominated to the position--the third ranking official in the Justice 
Department. That is shocking, really. We never have had a former civil 
rights attorney serving in such a position of prominence at the Justice 
Department. In that sense alone, Ms. Gupta would bring a long overdue 
perspective to our Federal law enforcement Agency.
  Just to give you a sense of Ms. Gupta's commitment to civil rights 
and racial equity, in her very first case after law school, she won the 
release of several African Americans who had been wrongly convicted by 
all-White juries in Texas. Her clients later won a full pardon from 
Texas Governor Rick Perry.
  At a time when our country needs to make strides against racial 
injustice, how can we not install one of the Nation's top civil rights 
lawyers at the Department of Justice? How can our colleagues not rise 
to the occasion--our colleagues on the other side of the aisle--and 
vote for her? I am so, so troubled by the fact that they are virtually 
unanimously against such a fine person who is needed so much at this 
time.
  Yes, but, unfortunately, Ms. Gupta might be the first nominee in this 
Congress where the vote falls entirely down on party lines. I hope it 
doesn't come to that. The effort to elevate highly qualified civil 
rights attorneys like Ms. Gupta should be bipartisan.
  I urge my colleagues--all of them, and particularly my friends on the 
other side of the aisle--to vote in favor of Ms. Gupta's nomination 
today.

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