Common-Sense Approach to Criminal Justice
Featuring U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta
Episode #11 | 27 April 2022 | Watch | Listen | Subscribe
The U.S. Department of Justice is tasked with enforcing the law, defending the interests of the United States, and ensuring public safety. This is no small task. It takes a team of committed public servants to support this mission.
On this episode of the Blue View, National President Patrick Yoes sits down with U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, the third highest ranking official at the Justice Department. A friend of the FOP, Vanita has a long history of working with law enforcement to build support for policing and a common-sense approach to criminal justice.
Vanita Gupta is the 19th United States Associate Attorney General and serves as the third-ranking official at the Department of Justice. Associate Attorney General Gupta supervises multiple litigating divisions within the Department of Justice, including the Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, Antitrust Division, Tax Division, and Environmental and Natural Resources Division. She also oversees the grant-making components of the Department, including the Office of Justice Programs, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; and supervises the Office of Information Policy, the Community Relations Service, the Executive Office for United States Trustees, and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.
Associate Attorney General Gupta previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s oldest and largest coalition of non-partisan civil rights organizations in the United States.
Before serving in that capacity, from October 15, 2014, to January 20, 2017, Associate Attorney General Gupta served as Acting Assistant Attorney General and Head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Appointed by President Barack Obama as the chief civil rights prosecutor for the United States, Associate Attorney General Gupta advanced a wide range of civil rights enforcement matters.
Prior to her tenure leading the Civil Rights Division, Associate Attorney General Gupta served as Deputy Legal Director and the Director of the Center for Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In addition to managing litigation, Associate Attorney General Gupta created and led the ACLU’s Smart Justice Campaign aimed at promoting bipartisan justice reform while keeping communities safe. She began her legal career as an attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
Associate Attorney General Gupta graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received her law degree from New York University School of Law, where later she taught a civil rights litigation clinic for several years.
Law enforcement officers have one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs in the United States. The brave men and women of law enforcement are charged with the enormous responsibility of keeping our streets and neighborhoods safe.
Be sure to tune in to Blue View, a weekly podcast presented by the National Fraternal Order of Police, to hear from law enforcement experts, elected officials, and other notable leaders to gain insight into the issues and current events surrounding the law enforcement community. Each episode will leave you with a better understanding of what law enforcement officers face daily. Together, we can rebuild the trust between police officers and the communities they serve.
