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Indian American Vanita Gupta to resign from US Justice Dept
As a top-ranking Indian-American within the department she took the lead on various issues
Vanita Gupta / Image - Brandeis University
Vanita Gupta, the Associate Attorney General of the United States, is set to resign from her position in February 2024, as per an official statement.
Gupta, the first woman of color to hold the position of the Department of Justice's third-highest-ranking official, spearheaded the "Reproductive Rights Taskforce aimed at safeguarding the reproductive freedoms protected by federal law," Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
As a top-ranking Indian-American within the department, she took the lead on various issues, including fostering trust between police and communities, protecting reproductive freedom, enhancing assistance for victims of gun violence and other crimes, advocating for competition and economic opportunities, and expanding community violence intervention programs.
Acknowledging Gupta's "extraordinary service", Garland said that her commitment to the "pursuit of justice and relentless focus on bringing people together to find common ground made her an incredibly effective leader in dealing with some of the most complex challenges facing the American people."
"She played an integral role in the department's efforts to combat violent crime and gun violence and to support the victims of crime," Garland added.
Gupta oversaw a range of departments within the Department of Justice, including civil litigating divisions, grantmaking components, the Office for Access to Justice, the Office of Information Policy, the Community Relations Service, the United States Trustees Programme, and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.
As a former acting assistant attorney general and a prominent civil rights attorney in the United States, Gupta serves as the chair for the Department's Reproductive Rights and Opioid Epidemic Civil Litigation Task Forces. Additionally, she is at the forefront of efforts to address unjust and unlawful practices related to fines and fees.
“ She has facilitated the Department’s efforts to advance a criminal justice system that keeps people safe and reflects our values. And across the components under her leadership — from the Antitrust Division to the Environment and Natural Resources Division — she has prioritized work that centers its impact on people,” Garland stated.
Before her current role, Gupta held the position of president and chief executive officer at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the oldest and largest coalition of non-partisan civil rights organizations in the US. Additionally, she served as the deputy legal director and the director of the Center for Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Gupta graduated from Yale University and earned her law degree from New York University School of Law. Following her education, she went on to teach a civil rights litigation clinic at New York University School of Law for several years.
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