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Vice President Kamala Harris was on hand in case she was needed for a possible 50-50 tie on the procedural vote for Gupta’s nomination Wednesday, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska, broke with her Republican colleagues and joined all Democratic senators to advance the nomination 51-49. The Senate will be voting on her final confirmation Wednesday afternoon. Murkowski explained her support for Gupta on the Senate floor, saying she was troubled by some of Gupta’s statements but decided to back her confirmation following a lengthy conversation with the nominee. “I asked her point blank, ‘Why do you...

Indiana Attorney General has begun investigations into five Big Tech corporations for censorship of conservative content involving Joe Biden’s nominee, Vanita Gupta. The probe includes companies Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter over whether they have “harmed Indiana consumers through business practices that are abusive, deceptive and/or unfair.” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said, “In a free society, few assets are more important to consumers than access to information and the opportunity to express political viewpoints in meaningful forums.” Adding, “It is potentially harmful and unfair for these companies to manipulate content in ways they do not publicly discuss or...

Biden nominee for Justice Department owns up to $1 million in auto parts manufacturer President Joe Biden's nominee for a top Justice Department post is a longtime advocate for raising the minimum wage to $15, but she owns up to $1 million in stock in a company chaired by her father that pays its Mexican workforce as little as $1.30 an hour. Vanita Gupta—whose net worth of between $42 and $187 million makes her the Biden administration's wealthiest nominee—owns at least $500,000 in Aptiv PLC, an international auto parts manufacturer chaired by her father. In contrast with Gupta's advocacy for...

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is pressing Vanita Gupta, the nominee for the number three position at the Justice Department, over millions of dollars in stock holdings she has in a chemical company that makes a key ingredient that Mexican drug cartels use to make heroin. Gupta holds between $11 million and $55 million in shares of Avantor, a Pennsylvania-based chemical company, according to financial disclosures she has filed with the Office of Government Ethics. Gupta’s father, Raj Gupta, serves as chairman of the board of Avantor. Gupta is the wealthiest political nominee that President Joe Biden has picked while in...

With the presidential election just days away, record voter turnout is being met with the specter of voter intimidation, leaving some Americans with fears of confrontation at the polls from now until Nov. 3. Civil rights advocates, election experts, and government officials have expressed heightened concerns following President Donald Trump's recent call for his supporters to "go into the polls and watch" for possible voting fraud, as well as his reelection campaign's recruitment and training what it has called an "army" of supporters to become poll watchers. And they are working hard to make sure Americans know their rights when...

Unity to the left means playing God and governing like kings and queens. In his first address on Nov. 7 to the nation after being prematurely crowned “president-elect” by legacy media, Joe Biden called for “a time to heal” and urged for “unity.” At his January inauguration, President Biden did the same. “With unity we can do great things. Important things. We can right wrongs. We can put people to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome this deadly virus. We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care...

An embattled Mississippi judge's nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans faces opposition from civil rights groups that claim he has a poor record on issues involving race and sexual assault—and from conservatives who claim he is not conservative enough. For the fifth time, the U.S. Senate committee in charge of advancing federal court nominees cancelled plans to hold a vote on Judge Halil Suleyman "Sul" Ozerden last month, and has not rescheduled plans to hold a vote. In an October letter, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President Vanita Gupta wrote to...

The Senate is set to escalate a long simmering fight over President Trump's judicial nominees. Republicans are poised to confirm a pick for the influential circuit courts next week without the support of either of the nominee's home-state senators—a first for the Trump era. Eric Miller is the first appeals judge to get a vote on the Senate floor this year, and the 31st of Trump’s presidency. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up an initial vote on his Ninth Circuit nomination for Monday evening. “The judicial train is running in the committee and it will soon hit the floor,”...

The United State Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to force a Christian pastor in Virginia to disclose under oath his views on Islam. Pastor Steve Harrelson of the Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Boston, Virginia, has been served with a wide-ranging subpoena by lawyers for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. The subpoena demands his presence to testify under oath in response to questions from Justice Department lawyers about his views on Islam as well as several other issues: DOJ Subpoena listing documents targets must provide to the government Harrelson is not a party to any lawsuit or other...

The Obama administration’s top civil rights lawyer announced Thursday she will lead a coalition of civil and human rights organizations at a time when they see the Justice Department softening its focus on a number of their priorities. Vanita Gupta, who was head of the Obama Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said she will become the new president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights amid an “unprecedented assault on civil rights.” […] During Gupta’s time at the department, the federal government inserted itself in various matters on behalf of transgender people, prisoners and the homeless....

Washington — In the final weeks of the Obama administration, the Justice Department won the first hate-crime case involving a transgender victim and sued two cities for blocking mosques from opening. Prosecutors settled lending-discrimination charges with two banks, then sued a third. They filed legal briefs on behalf of New York teenagers being held in solitary confinement, and accused Louisiana of forcing mentally ill patients into nursing homes. And then, with days remaining, prosecutors announced a deal to overhaul Baltimore’s Police Department and accused Chicago of unconstitutional police abuses. The moves capped a historic and sometimes controversial eight-year span in...

Monday, November 21, 2016 DOJ's Civil Rights Division Actions Since October 15, 2014, May Be Void Hans von Spakovsky recently published a commentary calling into question the validity of all Vanita Gupta’s official actions. Ms. Gupta is the acting head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and apparently has been working in violation of federal law for more than a year and a half. The result—it may render all the official actions Ms. Gupta has taken during her entire tenure, including lawsuits, demand letters, and hires, “void” and of no effect. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act,...

Vanita Gupta, the acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, apparently has been working in violation of federal law for more than a year and a half. That may render all of the official actions she has taken during that period—lawsuits, demand letters, hires, you name it—“void” and of no effect.

Lynch and DOJ Civil Rights Division head Vanita Gupta have appeared at gala events for an organization called Muslim Advocates. The George Soros-funded charity has badgered the New York City Police Department away from monitoring the most radical mosques in the city.

The head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said on Tuesday that investigating “policing work” is a “top priority.” […] (Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita) Gupta, who noted she was appointed in October 2014 by President Barack Obama shortly after the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., following the death of a black man in police custody, said the division investigates both individual officers who may have violated the law and entire police departments. …

In its latest effort to protect Muslim rights in the United States the Obama Justice Department is suing an Illinois town for denying a rezoning application to convert an office building into an Islamic temple. Failing to approve plans for the Islamic worship center violates a 2000 law known as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit filed this week in federal court. The accused are lawmakers in Des Plaines, a Chicago suburb with a population of about 60,000. In 2013 the Des Plaines City Council voted 5-3 to reject...

The Justice Department yesterday announced a simultaneous lawsuit and settlement with the Cleveland police department. The settlement will impose significant federal mandates on the police. This comes after a Cleveland police officer was acquitted of wrongdoing by a court after the officer shot a suspect at the conclusion of a 100 mph car chase. The agreement imposes a ten-member “community police commission” who will watch over the police, only three of whom have any law enforcement perspective. The remaining seven are sure to include individuals either actively involved in the racialist anti-police efforts or one degree of separation from the...

This lunacy is mainstream thought at the Department of Justice. Vanita Gupta, head of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, has told a lawyers group in Colorado that slavery and Jim Crow helped fuel the Ferguson and Baltimore riots. The last few days have seen a number of fanciful stories with the Obama administration seemingly questioning the authority of local police. I’ve long maintained that the administration is nakedly seeking to federalize policing standards — but get rid of local police? No way, that sounds like something broadcast from a shortwave station in Austin, Texas. But then up steps...

When history remembers the Obama administration, the flames of Ferguson will light up our memories. It wasn’t just an AutoZone and Jade Nails burning up in the fires of Ferguson, it was also the “Hope” of 2008 going up in smoke. Instead of hope, the age of Obama has been characterized by racial division and discord. Obama and Holder commanded the police to behave themselves. The police behaved, and look what happened. Last week, members of the New Black Panther Party were arrested by state officials for plotting to use pipe bombs against the St. Louis Gateway Arch and for...

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney was named Wednesday to be the acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Vanita Gupta, who has served for the past four years as deputy legal director of the ACLU and director of its Center for Justice, starts at the Justice Department next week. She previously worked as a lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. A person familiar with the process said President Barack Obama plans to nominate Gupta to serve in the job permanently. The person was not authorized to discuss the selection process by name and spoke on the...