Obama Nominates Jacqueline Berrien To Head EEOC

The White House announced yesterday that President Barack Obama has sent to the Senate the nomination of Jacqueline A. Berrien to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Berrien currently serves as Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). The announcement was made just hours before Obama spoke at the NAACP's annual meeting. (New York Times.) According to a White House press release which details her background, Berrien is a graduate of Harvard Law School where she served as General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. The EEOC enforces the nation's employment discrimination laws, including laws banning religious discrimination in employment.