Biden Civil Rights Nominee, Beneath Fireplace From the Proper, Will get Some Jewish Backing

Vanita Gupta speaks during the Justice Department nomination for President-elect Joe Biden on January 7 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post via Getty Images via JTA.org)

From Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, President Joe Biden’s candidate for leadership in civil rights enforcement, has been targeted as an extremist by a number of conservative groups and the conservative media in recent weeks.

Some Jewish groups, the Anti-Defamation League and the National Council of Jewish Women, express their support.

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Gupta, who was recruited to the post of assistant attorney general, No. 3 in the Justice Department, faces her first Senate confirmation hearings Tuesday.

The ADL, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, and the NCJW in a letter to the same body last week, quoted their work with Gupta in her current capacity as CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, as well as with her previous positions in the Obama administration, which ran the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, the NAACP, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“As a pioneering civil rights activist with an exceptional track record, Ms. Gupta is an ideal candidate to ensure that the pursuit of racial justice and justice takes precedence over the efforts of the DOJ,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL.

NCJW’s chief policy officer Jody Rabhan said Gupta had “established consensus within the civil rights community on key efforts such as voting rights, the 2020 census, federal courts and judicial reform.”

The ads targeting Gupta, spearheaded by the Judicial Crisis Network, and comments on sites such as Fox News, claim Gupta supports the police defunding but do not cite any evidence. In particular, Gupta is supported by a number of police groups.