POSITION: United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
NOMINEE:   Kristen Clarke
Occupation: (2000-2006) trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division; (2006-2011) NAACP Legal Defense Fund; (2011-2015) Director of the Civil Rights bureau of then-Attorney General of New York, Eric Schneiderman; (2015-Present) president and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Education: B.A. Harvard University (1997), J.D. Columbia Law School (2000)

On Roe v. Wade

On February 12, 2020 Kristen Clarke testified in favor of the radical Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA).  The legislation would codify Roe v. Wade and seeks to eliminate all S. 1696 would wipe out 20-week laws.(laws designed to advance women’s health and protect unborn children from pain), protect the practice of discrimination abortions based on sex and disability, make it harder if not practically impossible for states to stop off-label uses of abortion drugs, make it harder if not practically impossible for states to stop the practice of telemedicine abortions and require that a physician be physically present, wipe out state ultrasound information requirements and waiting periods and could trump state and federal conscience laws that protect pro-life doctors and hospitals.

On Abortion-Giant Planned Parenthood/Taxpayer Funding of Abortion and State’s Rights

Kristen Clarke signed onto an amicus brief demanding federal taxpayer funding for the billion dollar abortion-giant Planned Parenthood, citing that such bans on taxpayer funding for abortion and abortionists are racist for it makes it difficult for women of color to get abortions.  On page 30, the amicus says that birth is dangerous for black women and abortion is safer (emphasis added.)

Black women, for example, are more likely to lack adequate access to contraceptives and other reproductive services compared to women of other races with similar incomes. Black women also suffer from dramatically worse outcomes in maternal health—a grim reality that holds true for Black women across the income and educational spectrum. While abortion is very safe in America, pregnancy and childbirth pose severe risks, particularly for Black women.

On Questionable Connections

At the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Kristen Clarke worked with the questionable Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) – who were named as inspiration for the 2012 shooting at Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., which led to the first conviction under Washington, D.C.’s 2002 Anti-Terrorism Act.  After being named by Joe Biden the SPLC tweeted (and Kristen Clarke retweeted):

We also welcome the nomination of our talented friend & ally @KristenClarkeJD @LawyersComm to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Under your leadership we can restore #VotingRights protections and effectively confront hate & #WhiteSupremacy.