The Senate narrowly approved the appointment of Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general on Wednesday, despite the GOP’s widespread concern that she was unsuitable for the number 3 spot at the Justice Department.
The votes were 51 to 49. Alaska GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to join all Democrats to support Gupta’s affirmation.
Senator Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., hailed Gupta’s confirmation as “very good news for the forces of equality and justice in the country.”
“Having someone with such a civil rights background at this point in American history is so important and so essential to the country,” Schumer said immediately after the vote. “And I am so happy that the Senate has now approved her and that she can do her vital work, including dealing with the systemic bias we have seen in police and law enforcement across the country.”
Gupta was one of President Biden’s more controversial nominees, given her history of anti-republican rhetoric and concern from the GOP that she supports a far-left agenda that includes the lifting of police departments, ending qualified immunity for the police and its previous support for decriminalizing small amounts of drugs.
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Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, accused Gupta on Wednesday of lying to the Senate about her past positions and her “radical record.”
“Unfortunately, I think Ms. Gupta will be a clear and current danger to the American people if she gets the strength and power of the Department of Justice as well as the entire federal government of the United States of America,” Cornyn said in a long line. speech on the ground that spoke out against Gupta’s nomination.
Vanita Gupta, Leadership Conference for Civil Rights president and chief executive officer, testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on June 10, 2020 (Photographer: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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During her confirmation hearing, Gupta said she regretted “the harsh rhetoric I have sometimes used in recent years” and apologized for “the kind of foul language I have used in the past.”
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As for her stance on law enforcement, she denied her support for the defund movement.
That view contrasts with the testimony that Gupta provided to the committee in 2020 following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks, which took place during police meetings. Floyd’s death, in particular, sparked nationwide protests and calls for police reform, characterized by the left-wing movement to defund – and in some cases abolish – the police.
“ While changes in front-end systems are important, it is also critical for state and local leaders to heed calls from Black Lives Matter and Movement for Black Lives activists to increase police budgets and the scope, role and police responsibility in our lives, ‘wrote Gupta.
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Gupta claimed this was said as a representative of her organization, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chairman of the Senate Judicial Committee, was an outspoken supporter of Gupta. At a committee meeting, he noted the wide support she had received from law enforcement officials and associations, such as the National Fraternal Police Order.
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Durbin dismissed the Republican criticism as “unfounded slander,” while praising what he said as Gupta’s “commitment to building consensus and bridging partisan and ideological rifts.”
“Virtually every major law enforcement group backs Vanita Gupta,” Durbin said on Wednesday. ‘You wouldn’t know that if you heard on the floor that she wants to legalize all drugs and take money from the police. Those simplistic statements contradict the truth. ‘