Gupta is proud daughter of Indian immigrants: Biden
VANITA GUPTA is one of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America and a proud daughter of immigrants from India who has fought for greater equity, US President-elect Joe Biden has said as he nominated the Indian-American to be his associate attorney general.
If confirmed by the Senate, Gupta, 46, would be the first woman of colour to serve in this role.
‘As associate attorney general, the number three job at the department, I nominate Vanita Gupta. A woman I’ve known for some time. One of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America,’ Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware as he announced some of the key nominations in the Justice Department on Thursday.
Gupta started her career at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. During the Obama-Biden administration she led the civil rights division, Biden said.
‘At every step, with every case, she fought for greater equity and the right to right the wrongs of a justice system where they existed,’ he said.
In her remarks, Gupta said that there were not many agencies in the federal government like the Department of Justice that bears the name of a value.
‘By virtue of that name, at that value of justice, we know the department carries a unique charge and north star,’ she said.
‘At its best, it is the keeper of the sacred promise. Is the promise of equal justice for all, that no one is above the law. And when those promises are pursued with vigor, and brings light to our nation and serves as a beacon to the world. But when abandoned, we degrade our democracy, and sew the division that we’ve come to know all too well,’ she said.
The first time, Gupta said, she felt the absence of that promise as a four-year-old child would have her earliest memories.
‘My appearance will proud immigrants from India,’ she said.