WASHINGTON – The Senate voted on Wednesday to confirm Vanita Gupta’s nomination as Deputy Attorney General, despite nearly unified opposition from Republicans.
“It’s very good news for the forces of equality and justice in the country,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., on the chamber floor just after Gupta was confirmed by a vote of 51-49, largely along party lines. . Moderate Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska voted along with the Democrats.
Earlier in the day, the Senate put Gupta’s nomination for third place from the Justice Department in a vote of 51-49 after Murkowski joined all Democrats to vote the nomination and pledged to support her confirmation. Murkowski’s support meant that Vice President Kamala Harris was not needed to break a draw.
The final vote on the confirmation comes nearly a month after the Senate Judicial Committee held an 11-11 vote on her nomination, forcing the Senate to vote last week to discharge the committee’s nomination so that it could speak. come.
Gupta, who led the Justice Department’s civil rights division as associate attorney general during the Obama administration, will bring a “long overdue perspective” to the department, Schumer said Wednesday.
“Ms. Gupta is not only the first woman of color to ever be nominated for the position, she is also the first civil rights attorney ever nominated for the position – the third official in the Justice Department,” he said. And to give you an idea of Ms. Gupta’s commitment to civil rights and racial equality, in her very first case after graduating from law school, she won the release of several African-Americans who had been wrongly convicted by all-white juries in Texas. “
Murkowski explained her support for Gupta in comments on the Senate floor, saying that despite some of the candidate’s “ disturbing and disturbing ” statements, she is “ a woman who I believe has shown deep and deep involvement throughout her professional career. is in matters of justice. “
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said on Wednesday that he would “strongly oppose” Gupta’s nomination, arguing that she has “repeatedly amplified leftist fears towards judicial nominees and sitting federal judges” and members of this body. “
McConnell also accused Gupta of using “the loosest interpretation of her oath to give an honest testimony” during her confirmation process, saying her reputation “contrasts” with that of Attorney General Merrick Garland, for whom he voted to confirm.
“The White House must make a better choice for this important position,” he said. “The Senate should create that opportunity by voting no today.”
He later voted against Gupta’s appointment.
President Joe Biden praised Gupta, who serves as the head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in his comments Tuesday night following Derek Chauvin’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd.
Biden said Gupta and Kristen Clarke, the head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which he nominated to head the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, “ are highly qualified, highly respected attorneys who have fought their entire career to promote racial progress. fairness and justice. “
Gupta and Clarke have the experience and the skill “to advance our government’s priorities to stamp out unconstitutional police and reform our criminal justice system, and they deserve to be upheld,” Biden said.
Many Republicans have also opposed Clarke’s nomination.
Julie Tsirkin contributed.