Indian-American Vanita Gupta has been confirmed as the Associate Attorney General of the United States, making her the first Indian-American to serve in this role. The Senate confirmed Gupta to be associate attorney general in a narrow 51-49 vote after Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined with Democrats in support of President Joe Biden's Justice Department nominee.
Gupta is a legendary figure in the US civil rights movement having as a newly-minted lawyer won the release of 38 people, most of them African-Americans, who had been wrongly convicted by all-White juries on drug charges in a Texas town and also got the $6 million in compensation.
She had served as the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney-General and head of the Civil Rights Division during former President Barack Obama's administration.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has to give preliminary approval for Gupta's confirmation, was deadlocked on her nomination for more than a month and the Senate bypassed it.
Gupta was the second Indian-American nominee of President Joe Biden to run into difficulties in the Senate, which must approve all senior appointments, because of previous policy stances as well as divisive tweets.
Vice President Kamala Harris was ready to cast a tie-breaking vote as the Senate president if the votes had been split 50-50.
Murkowsi, who represents Alaska, said that Gupta "has demonstrated throughout her professional career to be deeply, deeply committed to matters of justice."
Democratic Party Senator Leader Chuck Schumer said: "Not only is Gupta the first woman of colour to ever be nominated to the position, but she is also the first civil rights attorney ever to be nominated to the position."
But Republican Party Senate Leader Mitch McConnell called her "way outside the mainstream" and "an activist for left-wing causes" who had attacked Senators.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Gupta had apologised for some of her tweets saying that she had "fallen prey" to "the rhetoric (that) has gotten quite harsh over the last several years".
The campaign against her was spearheaded by the right-wing Judicial Crisis Network which launched an ad campaign accusing her of being soft on crime.
Five Republican Attorneys-General circulated a petition against her confirmation.
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Defending Democracy Together (DDT), an organisation of conservatives who had opposed former President Donald Trump, countered with a campaign supporting Gupta, saying that she "has been building bridges across partisan divides, she has the broad backing of law enforcement".
Three groups of law enforcement officials, Fraternal Order of Police, Major County Sheriffs of America and Federal Law Enforcement Officials Association, also supported her.