By Steve Neavling
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta is stepping down as the Justice Department’s third-ranking official early next year, the DOJ announced Thursday.
Gupta, 49, focused on police accountability, abortion rights and antitrust issues.
She was the first woman of color to serve in the position after the U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed her in 2021.
Attorney General Merrick Garland also appointed Gupta last year to lead a DOJ reproductive rights task force after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal protections for abortion access.
In a lengthy statement, Garland said Gupta “played an essential role in our work to fulfill DOJ’s mission to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe, and protect civil rights.”
“I am deeply grateful to Vanita for her extraordinary service as Associate Attorney General,” Garland said. “Vanita’s commitment to the pursuit of justice, and her relentless focus on bringing people together to find common ground, has made her an incredibly effective leader in dealing with some of the most complex challenges facing the American people. She has distinguished herself as the kind of leader who is also a partner to the career and non-career employees who work for her, to the stakeholders the Department works with, and to the public we all work for.”
Before her appointment, Gupta served 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.
