Vanita Gupta to Exit from Justice Department’s No. 3 Post

Vanita Gupta will be leaving as the Justice Department’s associate attorney general, following influential tenure overseeing reproductive and civil rights.

The first woman of color to serve as DOJ’s No. 3 official, Gupta plans to depart in early February, the department announced Thursday.

Attorney General Merrick Garland handed Gupta a vast portfolio on issues that were deemed critical to the Biden administration — such as police accountability and environmental justice — while also attracting objections from conservatives. She arrived in 2021 as an established civil rights leader, advancing issues that made her a target of Republicans during a close Senate confirmation battle.

“I am deeply grateful to Vanita for her extraordinary service,” Garland said in a statement. “Vanita stood up and has led the Department’s Reproductive Rights Taskforce to defend the reproductive freedoms that are protected by federal law. She has played an integral role in our efforts to combat violent crime and gun violence and to support the victims of crime.”

Gupta oversaw the Civil Rights Division, which she earlier led in the Obama administration, during an active period. The current administration has focused on voting rights litigation and pattern and practice investigations into metropolitan police departments.