WASHINGTON – On President-elect Joe Biden announcing nominees to key positions in the Department of Justice today, Constitutional Accountability Center President Elizabeth Wydra issued the following statement: 

With the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to be Attorney General, President-elect Biden has made one of his most critically important cabinet choices.

Any Attorney General must have a certain set of values: a deep commitment to the core constitutional principles of liberty, equality, and fairness; a history of defending or advancing substantive fundamental rights; and a demonstrated willingness to respect the Constitution, whatever his or her own policy preferences, or those of the President. An Attorney General must rise above partisan politics and enforce the Constitution and rule of law fairly — even if that means standing up to the President himself. Finally, an Attorney General must have demonstrated their fidelity to the text, history, and values of the whole Constitution, including the transformative Amendments ratified after the revolutionary movements of Reconstruction, suffrage, and civil rights. Constitutional Accountability Center looks forward to following Judge Garland’s hearings in the Senate.

Additionally, CAC is thrilled to see the nominations of Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke to help lead the Department of Justice as, respectively, Associate Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General for the department’s Civil Rights Division. For many years, we have been proud and honored to partner with both women and the organizations they have led—the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law—in our shared mission to defend the Constitution and make its promises real for all in America. We look forward to their service to our country, and look forward to supporting their efforts on behalf of the people of this nation.

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Resources: 

Vanita Gupta shares a #ConstitutionalMoment with CAC on Constitution Day, September 17, 2019: https://twitter.com/MyConstitution/status/1174065488554549248  

Kristen Clarke lauds the work of CAC on our 10th anniversary, video released September 27, 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCUyb4r5NmI  

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Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. Visit CAC’s website at www.theusconstitution.org.  

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