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“RECOGNIZING LORETTA KING” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2147 on Dec. 1, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RECOGNIZING LORETTA KING
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HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing Loretta King, a champion for civil rights, a loving wife and mother, and a dedicated public servant.
Today, Loretta is celebrating her retirement most recently as the career Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. In total, Loretta has dedicated more than 32 years of her life in defense of our Nation and the public at large.
Loretta's career is one self-sacrifice and commitment to protecting the rights of all Americans, without regard to race, gender, or political affiliation.
As a career-track civil servant, Loretta epitomizes a Justice Department lawyer; Loretta did so without seeking the limelight, year after year, day in and day out, for all her career. Starting as a law clerk while completing her studies, Loretta literally rose up the ranks at the Justice Department to become the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the government's chief civil rights advocate.
After graduating in 1990 from American University, Washington College of Law, Loretta was chosen by the Justice Department's Legal Honors Program. From 1980 to 1990, Loretta served as a line attorney in the Civil Rights Division's Employment Litigation Section, tasked with enforcing Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In this post, Loretta led and settled the Justice Department's first sexual harassment case as well as its first paternity leave case. Over the next 20 years, Loretta worked in both the Justice Department's Civil and Civil Rights Divisions. In 1992, Loretta was tapped to serve as the Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Division's Voting Section. In 1994, Loretta was elevated to her current role as the Civil Rights Division's Deputy Assistant Attorney General, where she has served continuously for 17 years, except during temporary assignments to other senior roles in the Division. Specifically, in 2009, Loretta served as her Division's Acting Assistant Attorney General, pending confirmation to that post of Thomas Perez. From August 2010 through June 2011, Loretta led the Civil Rights Division's Employment Litigation Section as its Acting Chief.
A civil rights legal pioneer, Loretta became one of the highest ranking women and persons of color to serve in the Justice Department, and the first African-American woman to hold the positions in the Civil Rights Division of Acting Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
As a Member of Congress representing Americans who know all too well the sting of injustice, I am here to salute Loretta's tireless work and long service upholding the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans. As Robert F. Kennedy once said, ``few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.'' Loretta has done just that.
Again, I ask the House to celebrate Loretta as a servant to her family and country as well as defender of the civil rights of all people, including the residents of the Nation's capital.
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