By Steve Neavling
The Senate on Wednesday narrowly confirmed Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. 3 position at the Justice Department.
Gupta, 46, was confirmed in a final vote of 51-49 after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski broke ranks and joined Democrats to confirm President Biden’s nominee.
Republicans depicted Gupta, a critic of former President Trump’s policies on immigration and federal judicial appointees, as an anti-police radical.
Gupta, who will be the first woman of color to serve in the position, is tasked with overseeing the department’s civil, antitrust and environmental and natural resources divisions.
Gupta serves as head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human rights and was assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division under President Obama, when she oversaw investigations into police brutality in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri.
