Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks at Her Farewell Ceremony

I am overwhelmed. By all of you who showed up here today — friends and colleagues from across government and beyond. And by all of the remarks and videos just now.  But also by just how bittersweet this is.

I could probably spend my whole speaking time saying thank you — and mostly, I will. Let me start by thanking the President, for believing in me and trusting me to take on this role as a leader in his administration.  It has been the honor of a lifetime.

The Attorney General, DAG, and I reentered the Justice Department in the Spring of 2021 facing unprecedented challenges, including of course, COVID.

The Attorney General dove headfirst into rebuilding morale and reestablishing longstanding norms. He told us that keeping the American people safe, upholding the rule of law, and protecting civil rights were all co-equal priorities for the Justice Department. He has been clear that he will take any slings and arrows to ensure our employees can focus on the work, and nothing else. 

The Attorney General also doesn’t miss a thing. I’d like to think that I have gotten better at anticipating his probing questions when I’m discussing a case with him — what is this argument, why didn’t we make that other argument, how will this affect our chances on appeal. And when he reads about an injustice or a problem in the news, he asks what the Justice Department can do about it. I feel privileged every day to work with him and see firsthand his focus in spite of the noise, his decency and compassion, and his commitment to seeking the right answer and doing the right thing. 

The DAG and I started this journey in the foxhole together during our confirmation process and I must admit I was indeed a very good shield. I have learned so much from her — she has a superb ability to cut to the heart of an issue and get things done. She has empowered the Associate’s Office, always asking what I or my office thinks about whatever crosses her desk from one of our components. We got a lot done during our weekly meetings — a meeting PADAG Marshall Miller has coined “the best meeting of the week.” From Lisa, I have also learned that there are times when you have to “get everyone’s hands on the knife,” or “tell them to stop playing with their food,” and my personal favorite, “Say it with me, people: This is Not. On. The. Level.”

I have heard people refer to us as the triumvirate, trio, and even Three Musketeers. I regard these nicknames as a compliment. Thank you both. For your leadership, your trust in me, and most of all, your friendship.

Damian, thank you for your leadership in the extraordinary U.S. Attorney community. Almost immediately upon meeting you, I knew we would be good friends and trusted colleagues. I was right. And I will leave this building tomorrow with dear U.S. Attorney friends that I will stay in touch with for years to come.

And Klapper, I don’t know how you do it, but the Justice Department is so lucky you are where you are. You run on pure adrenaline and a commitment to justice. I can’t imagine having done this job without you. I am grateful for your constant support and regular pranks.

I am also deeply grateful to have had the chance to work with each of my components, and the leaders you heard from today. I could spend all afternoon talking about how proud I am of the work you do every day. I am grateful to each of you for your kind words. It has been an honor to work with you.

To my civil rights family and law enforcement friends, I am so grateful for your steadfast support and partnership. Some of you I’ve known for years, some since I assumed this job. Despite what seems like the dying art of listening across difference, we’ve managed to do important work together.

I love the Justice Department. I have often noted this is the only federal agency that bears the name of a value. The Department was created in the aftermath of the Civil War, and charged with securing the rights promised by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, at a time when the Ku Klux Klan was engaged in a campaign of violence and lynchings of Black Americans. At its best, throughout history, the Department has championed equal protection of the law for the most marginalized communities.

When I was a baby civil rights lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, I aspired to have the Justice Department participate in my cases. I saw firsthand what it meant to some of the most dispossessed and vulnerable communities in the country to have the United States government on their side.

I saw that again two weeks ago, in Uvalde, Texas. I met with families who lost their children and loved ones in the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, and who in the days and weeks following the shooting lost trust in their own neighbors and institutions. They felt forgotten. After the AG and I announced the conclusions of our critical incident review, several survivors and family members were understandably emotional. They told reporters how much it meant to have the Justice Department provide a measure of transparency that had been missing and publicly validate their experiences. There is only one institution that could do that — and it is this one.  

While I have revered this institution since I went to law school, what I didn’t truly appreciate until I got here was how much I would love and respect the people. You are mission-driven, often working late into the night to vindicate rights, keep people safe from harm or respond to crises, and resolve tricky intergovernmental conflicts. You are working day in and day out to address some of the greatest challenges of our time.

And that is true not just of those of you literally inside this building, but also in U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country, and our colleagues in the White House and in other agencies across the federal government, many of whom are here today, and for our stakeholders outside government, who keep us honest and tell us what we are doing right and where we need to do more or better. 

What I’ve loved about being the Associate Attorney General is the unique vantage point it has given me of the breadth of the Department’s impact — your impact — on the lives of the people we serve. 

In the fight against gun violence, for example, even beyond the usual tools of prosecution, our lawyers are defending gun regulations in court and finding just resolutions to cases brought by victims of horrible tragedies. We are funding community violence intervention work to prevent shootings before they happen; training law enforcement to confront active shooters and other emergencies; and helping to ensure victim services are both accessible and meaningful, including for first responders. My time with survivors and loved ones of victims in Uvalde, Chicago, Buffalo, and beyond has only underscored the importance and urgency of this work. 

This type of all-hands-on-deck approach is happening in countless other areas too: our work to foster police-community trust through implementation of the Executive Order on Effective, Accountable Policing, grant funding, technical assistance, civil rights investigations, and more; the way employees from across the Department stepped up in the wake of Dobbs to protect reproductive freedom; and on issues from environmental justice to Tribal justice to fighting white supremacy and other forms of hate, battling the opioid crisis, immigration, voting rights, economic justice, government transparency, and more. 

I can’t take full credit for all the nice things people have said about me today, because I hardly did this work alone. No one does. I had an absolutely stellar team throughout my three years and could not have done this job without a single one of them. Even in high stress situations that required late night and early morning phone calls and emails, and sometimes even literally running down the halls, we found a way to laugh, check in with each other on hard days, and uplift each other’s hard-fought achievements. Some days felt like a week — they were so intense and so many things happened — but I was always grounded by my team. 

It is dangerous to single people out, but I need to acknowledge Matthew Colangelo, my principal deputy for the first two years and a longtime friend and fellow civil rights lawyer, who wowed everyone in this building with his brilliance and warmth. And Betsy, my chief of staff, who is literally called Besty in my house because my family knows how much I have leaned on her at all hours of the day and night, but also everyone at DOJ knows she’s the best. I am truly blessed to have worked with the most brilliant, mission-driven team, known to all of us as our OASG family. And I am so grateful to the wonderful Ben Mizer, who stepped into the fray with me two years in — I know he and the rest of the team will not miss a beat and will continue to press forward on the important work underway. 

This is the Justice Department at its best — fighting for our values, working together to solve tough problems, and always keeping the rule of law as our north star.

And now, last but never least, thank you to my family. My parents immigrated to this country from India in 1969. I am blessed by their unconditional love and their model of humility and hard work. I am honored to be their daughter, and to be the first daughter of immigrants to serve as Associate Attorney General. And I am honored to have been able to build on their legacy of determination and resilience from the highest levels of the United States government.  

Thank you to my sister Amita, for being a trailblazer in so many ways and for being my best friend.  

And I am deeply grateful, in a way I could never really put into words, to my husband Chinh, who has supported me every step of the way and decided early on that he wouldn’t ask when I would be home lest it make me feel guilty for working late. And to my kids, who keep me grounded with their love and silliness and have put up with constant phone calls and emails interrupting their lives. Get ready for my overparenting! 

I love you all.

I am not leaving because I am under any illusion that the work is finished. I know the work is never finished. The project of American democracy is and will always be a work in progress.

But make no mistake: Progress is not linear, and it is not inevitable. Our democracy will not protect itself. It requires vigilance and work. The beauty of this country and the promise of our legal framework is not that we are perfect, but that we never stop working to make our highest ideals real for all Americans.

There are times when the weight of the work, and the work left to do, feels overwhelming. But we cannot succumb to cynicism or complacency. We must stay hopeful. And we must remember that hope is a discipline, one that we must practice every day.

Thank you, all of you, for the work we have done together, and the work to come. There is much more to say, but I will leave you with this: keep pushing forward. Keep believing in the ongoing project of American democracy and in the rule of law. We cannot take them for granted. Thank you all.