Controversial Biden DOJ civil rights nominee takes step closer to confirmation

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The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday cast an 11-11 tie vote on the nomination of Kristen Clarke to be the assistant attorney general for civil rights, bringing the controversial nominee one step closer to confirmation.

Under the 50-50 partisan split in the Senate, committees are split evenly along party lines. Tie votes normally fail under Senate procedures but an agreement forged by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., allows nominees who get tied votes in committee to advance to the Senate floor via a simple-majority discharge petition.

BIDEN DOJ NOMINEE KRISTEN CLARKE DEFENDS PAST CONTROVERSIAL WRITINGS ON RACE

Executive nominees like Clarke can be confirmed by a simple majority vote, meaning that if Democrats get all 50 of their members on board Vice President Harris can break a tie on a final confirmation vote. But moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has not yet made a public commitment on whether he will support Clarke. Whether Manchin or other moderate Democrats spurn Clarke – or whether any moderate Republicans support her – will determine the fate of her nomination in the closely divided Senate.

Kristen Clarke delivers remarks after being nominated to be civil rights division assistant attorney general by then-President-elect Joe Biden at The Queen theater January 07, 2021 in Wilmington, Delaware. From 2014 to 2017 Gupta served as the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during the Obama Administration. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) ( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Clarke previously served in the Justice Department under former President Barack Obama. 

Her nomination is especially controversial because of her prolific Twitter use, where she would often launch broadsides against some senators, including Manchin. Clarke also has a history of controversial writings, including a 2020 Newsweek op-ed headlined: "I Prosecuted Police Killings. Defund the Police—But Be Strategic."

Clarke said in a hearing before the Judiciary Committee that she did not actually mean to say police should be defunded in that op-ed.

Sen. Ted Cruz. R-Texas, slammed Clarke before the Thursday vote. He said that Clarke is among "the most radical nominees that have ever been put forward to any position in the federal government." 

"This is not a new passion of hers," Cruz added. "She has spent her life on the extreme left wing. When she was a student at Columbia, she helped organize a conference," that touted cop killers. Cruz also dug into other writings of Clarke's. 

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., however, alleged that Cruz "mischaracterized Ms. Clarke's actual statements."

"His characterization is even more of a distortion used solely, solely to attack the Democratic members of this committee," Blumenthal said. "I assume if my colleagues will review her record including her explanation to us in the hearing that she attended and will know what her views are now, what she meant in that article  that's been cited… they will disregard his distortions of the record."