Adam Serwer on Obamas pick to lead the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division: The Obama administration has chosen a harsh critic of the criminal justice system to run the civil rights division of the Justice Department, even as his party appears on the verge of losing the Senate. The ACLU announced Wednesday that Vanita Gupta, their deputy legal director and head of their Justice Center, was being nominated for the job. “I think it shows some real commitment to civil rights on the part of the administration that they’re putting forth another serious civil rights lawyer after Debo [Adegbile’s] nomination, said Sam Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former top lawyer in the division. Gupta is as passionate an advocate for racial justice as you could find. At a time when the Obama administration faces a potential Republican majority in the Senate — and having lost a tough nomination battle over the nominee’s connection to a racially charged murder case involving a police officer — they chose a nominee who has spent the last decade attacking racism in the American criminal justice system. Gupta has called for the decriminalization of marijuana, criticized the militarization of local police, and gone after cops engaging in highway robbery through civil asset forfeiture laws. -Erika
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 19:00:01 +0000
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