Obama's Nominee for DOJ Civil Rights Chief Is a Certifiable Badass

Vanita Gupta may be America’s new Civil Rights Chief for the Department of Justice. Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder announced President Obama’s choice to nominate the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday.

Gupta is not only besties with Democrats, according to Time, but she’s also got fans on the right, including conservatives like David Keene, former president of the National Rifle Association, and Grover Norquist. She began her career at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and called for police transparency and accountability in Ferguson, Mo. surrounding the killing of Mike Brown.

Elsewhere, Gupta pushed for drug law reform through decriminalization of some drugs like marijuana and supports the elimination of mandatory minimum sentencing for first-time offenders. She’s also skilled at drawing opposites to the table to work out their differences, which in these days of bitter partisan politics, could be extremely valuable.