Thread by @AdamaEsq

🚨#60SecondCTA Please sign & RT!

I want to share why it's so important that we all stand up in unison to support @VanitaGuptaCR and @KristenClarkeJD for their nominations to the Department of Justice.

Thread⤵️
lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/civil-rights-n…

7 years ago, President Obama nominated Debo Adegbile, leader of @NAACP_LDF, to lead the Civil Rights Division at DOJ. He was the perfect pick — decades of experience fighting for civil rights. But his nomination was met with vile & racist attacks that I won't repeat here. 2/13

Those vile & racists attacks were allowed to fester. In the end—because we in the civil rights & progressive community were not loud enough—his nomination failed in the Senate, despite a narrow Democratic majority. 7 Democrats, including 3 still in Congress, voted against him.

As a young civil rights attorney—that vote on March 5, 2014, was devastating. If a paragon of civil rights like Debo Adegbile could have his name & legacy tarnished, what hope was there for the rest of us? For the enforcement of civil rights laws in the US? 4/13

The Obama Administration gave up & never nominated someone to lead the Civil Rights Division at DOJ again. 5/13

Then came Trump who actively undermined civil rights:
—restricting access to the vote
—attempting to undermine the Census
—scapegoating immigrants & BLM protestors
—encouraging a white supremacist insurrection
—giving lifetime judgeships who supported many of these efforts

Then Biden is elected, pledging to heal America's racial divides. In one of his first actions he nominates @VanitaGuptaCR to be Associate Attorney General & @KristenClarkeJD to be, you guessed it, the leader of the DOJ Civil Rights Division. 7/13

@vanitaguptaCR is the leader of @civilrightsorg, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

@KristenClarkeJD is the leader of @LawyersComm, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Like Debo Adegbile, both have devoted their lives to fighting injustice. 8/13

Sometime in early March—close to 7 years to the day after 8 Democratic Senators chose to scuttle Debo Adegbile's nomination for DOJ CRD—@vanitaguptaCR & @KristenClarkeJD will have their confirmation hearings. projects.propublica.org/represent/vote…

This time the Senate is a slim 50/50.
The Judiciary Committee is filled with members of what has been termed "the sedition caucus".
Knowing the history of Debo Adegbile's nomination as I do, do you think there is any chance they won't be met with similar vile & racist attacks?

Do you really think "the sedition caucus" won't jump at the opportunity to defeat one of Biden's first nominees?

Do you think the three Democratic Senators who voted against Debo Adegbile & are still in the Senate learned their lesson? 11/13

We need people repairing the damage of the Trump Administration who have devoted their lives to fighting injustice. We need @vanitaguptaCR, @KristenClarkeJD, & other civil rights leaders nominated & confirmed to work in the government. 12/13

The lesson I take from Debo Adegbile's nomination is that there are no safe votes—no safe Senators. If we want to repair the damage Trump inflicted on the US, we need to pull out all the stops & support @vanitaguptaCR & @KristenClarkeJD.

Please join me:
lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/civil-rights-n…