Eric Dreiband Should Lead The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division

In the Daily Caller, RNLA President Elliot Berke penned an article calling for the fair and swift confirmation of his friend and former colleague Eric S. Dreiband to lead the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division as Assistant Attorney General. Mr. Berke wrote the following of his friend:

One of the primary criticisms of Eric is that in private practice he’s been the “go to lawyer” for “big corporations.” As General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the Bush administration, Eric actually litigated against companies accused of discrimination. By the way, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate for that position.

Eric served as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. In that capacity, he directed the federal government’s enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Migrant Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, and other federal labor laws. For his contribution to the department’s efforts to update the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemption regulations, he received the Secretary of Labor’s Exceptional Achievement Award. Eric also received the Secretary of Labor’s Compliance Assistance Award for leading the Labor Department’s efforts to increase compliance with the federal child labor laws.

Eric is a skilled and able attorney who represents his client’s interests zealously, whether his client is a corporation or the American people. He respects the law as written, and if confirmed as head of the Civil Rights Division, will seek to enforce federal civil rights laws to their full extent without following an activist or partisan agenda, just as he did at EEOC and the Department of Labor.

But as I’ve told the Senate Judiciary Committee, it is my personal and professional opinion that Eric will be an effective advocate for the protection of civil rights and for the prosecution of civil rights abuses. My hope is that he receives a fair hearing and swift Senate consideration, and that all sides realize what a talented lawyer they will have to advance the cause of justice.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a string of catch-up hearings on nominees by President Trump who were announced before Congress's summer recess.  The RNLA urges the swift confirmation of Eric Dreiband, Justice Larsen of Michigan for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the other well-qualified nominees who are currently held up by Senate Democrats obstructing President Trump's nominees.