New Acting Head of DOJ Civil Rights Division Appointed

The Justice Department announced last Wednesday that beginning tomorrow Vanita Gupta will serve as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. She succeeds Molly Moran who will become Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General. A New York Times editorial on Friday praised the Gupta appointment and said that the President has indicated he plans to send her name to the Senate as a nominee for the position on a permanent basis. Gupta comes to the Justice Department from the ACLU where she serves as its deputy legal director and has worked actively on criminal justice reform. She is well-liked by many conservatives as well as by liberals.  Last March the U.S. Senate rejected Debo Adegbile, President Obama's previous nominee for the permanent position of Assistant Attorney General to head the Civil Rights Division. (See prior posting.)