Confirm Kristen Clarke

Kristen Clarke’s record as a champion of civil rights for all people in America is unassailable. She has dedicated her entire life and career to the pursuit of equal justice under the law.

Kristen began her career in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice—the same office she has now been nominated to lead. She had subsequent roles as chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the New York State Attorney General’s office, and leadership roles at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and most recently as president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Right Under Law, one of the nation’s leading civil rights legal organizations.

With her vast experience, Kristen Clarke is among the most qualified candidates ever nominated to lead civil rights enforcement for the nation. She has expertise on a wide range of key civil rights issues, including voting rights, hate crimes, human trafficking, disability rights, fair housing, education, employment, and police-community relations.

Kristen has earned a reputation for being pragmatic, a strong leader, and a consensus builder with a track record of achieving results. She has a history of securing landmark agreements, working collaboratively with law enforcement to promote transparency and improved community relations, and engaging corporate leaders on issues of diversity and accountability. Her work has helped to strengthen these important American institutions while also serving communities deeply impacted by racial discrimination.

Kristen would be the first woman in history to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. If confirmed, she has vowed to work tirelessly to make equality for all a reality.

With her impressive record, Kristen Clarke has support from across the civil rights community, the broader legal and business communities, Jewish and other faith groups, and some of the nation’s largest law enforcement groups. With a growing national consciousness about the impact of racism, extremism, and hate, they know that she is the best person to lead the Civil Rights Division at this critical time in our nation’s history.

“Kristen Clarke is a lawyer whose career was spent championing the rights of Jews and other marginalized people is being maligned for things she never said. Clarke would be not just the first Black woman confirmed to lead the Civil Rights Division, but the first woman confirmed to lead it at all since it was created in 1957.”

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Sheila Katz
CEO, National Council of Jewish Women

“Kristen Clarke and Vanita Gupta are both independently legit civil rights champions with a long deep history. They’re going to make a really spectacular, really powerful team.”

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Justin Levitt
Professor of Law, Loyola Marymount University

“The idea that the Civil Rights Division, whose entire mandate to enforce our civil rights law, hasn’t had a woman — and hasn’t had a Black woman in particular — is sort of stunning, So it’s time to correct it.”

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Fatima Goss Graves
President and CEO, National Women’s Law Center

“Kristen Clarke was masterful today. She has an astonishing career as a civil rights lawyer. People could see her intelligence, poise and confidence, and that she could not be shaken. She is the right person for this job.”

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Sherrilyn Ifill
President & Director-Counsel of LDF

“The Civil Rights Division needs a leader with the experience to tackle an unprecedented assault on voting rights and a horrifying rise in bigotry and racism. Kristen Clarke is that leader, and I was proud to introduce her before the Senate Judiciary Committee.”