On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder appointed top civil rights lawyer Vanita Gupta to the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
New DOJ Civil Rights Chief Vanita Gupta Known For 'Trailblazing' Work
Gupta, currently Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union and Director of its Center for Justice, will take over next week as acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
Also, according to a White House official, President Obama is expected to nominate Gupta to be the permanent assistant attorney general for civil rights, a division that oversees voting rights and civil rights investigations, and has been without fixed leadership for more than a year.
Gupta will be the first South Asian American lawyer appointed to lead the division. Here's more on her background, according to the ACLU's press release:
