Mazie Hirono: “I rise today in support of the nomination of Kristen Clarke to be Assistant Attorney General for the Justice…”

“I rise today in support of the nomination of Kristen Clarke to be Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. In the 4\1/2\ months since she was nominated, my Republican colleagues and their rightwing allies have engaged in a coordinated smear campaign to distort Kristen Clarke's record. It is past time to set things straight. Kristen Clarke is a supremely capable and qualified nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division. I would argue that she is among the most well-credentialed and qualified nominees ever to serve in this role. During her career, she has served as a trial attorney in the Division's voting section; a prosecutor in the Division's criminal section; an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and later as the codirector of its Political Participation Group; as the civil rights chief of the New York State Attorney General's Civil Rights Bureau; and as president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the Nation's preeminent civil rights organizations. Kristen Clarke's credentials for this job are unimpeachable. Unable to undermine her nomination on the merits, Senate Republicans have engaged in a vicious smear campaign against Kristen Clarke because they are afraid she will actually do her job.…”