Nomination of Vanita Gupta

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate will soon vote on a motion to discharge the nomination of Vanita Gupta to serve as the next Attorney General--Associate Attorney General. The daughter of immigrants, she would be the first woman of color and the first civil rights attorney to serve as Attorney General.

Ms. Gupta is an exceptional nominee and an outstanding lawyer. It is confounding that her nomination has been tied up in the Judiciary Committee, requiring the Senate to take the extra procedural steps to move her nomination forward. But despite Republican obstruction, she will be confirmed by this Chamber in a few minutes.

Ms. Gupta's credentials speak for themselves. She most recently served as president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and served 4 years at the Justice Department.

Her first case after law school involved securing the release of several African Americans wrongly convicted by all-White juries in Texas.

At a time when so many in our country call for action against civil injustices and racial violence, how can we not install one of the Nation's top civil rights lawyers at the Department of Justice?

Senate Republicans, rather than evaluate Ms. Gupta on the merits of her accomplishments, have spent the last few weeks appealing to outlandish accusations that she is an out-of-touch, far-left radical.

The questions she endured during her confirmation hearing were utterly inane--from accusations that she is anti-police to the insinuation that she wants to legalize all drugs. A conservative judicial organization even launched a shameful national ad campaign to smear her reputation--her nomination. These smear tactics are nonsense.

Gupta commands the respect of civil rights advocates and law enforcement and has the endorsement from the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. There is no mystery to Ms. Gupta's broad support. She is outstanding at what she does. She knows how to listen and work with others, including Republican Senators, and is deeply knowledgeable in the field. That is exactly--exactly--she is exactly the kind of person we need at the Department of Justice.

So I look forward to now moving on Ms. Gupta's nomination.

I yield back the rest of our time.

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