Vanita Gupta
Encyclopedia
Vanita Gupta is a civil rights lawyer and the Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), where she oversees the ACLU's national criminal and drug law reform advocacy efforts and its docket of criminal justice related lawsuits. Gupta is an Indian-American, but mostly grew up in England and France. She is a graduate of Yale
and New York University Law School, graduating from law school in 2001.
(LDF), involved 46 African-Americans in Tulia
, Texas
, who had been convicted by an all-white jury on drug dealing charges. In almost every case, the only evidence was the testimony of an undercover agent, Tom Coleman. Coleman did not use wiretaps, and records showed that he had "filed shoddy reports", and had a previous misdemeanor charge for stealing gasoline from a county pump. Gupta won the release of all of the defendants in 2003, four years after they were jailed, then negotiated a $5 million settlement for those arrested.
On 6 August 2009, the Department of Homeland Security announced intentions to improve the nation's immigration detention system, including ending family detention at the T. Don Hutto family detention center in Taylor, Texas.
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU), where she oversees the ACLU's national criminal and drug law reform advocacy efforts and its docket of criminal justice related lawsuits. Gupta is an Indian-American, but mostly grew up in England and France. She is a graduate of Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and New York University Law School, graduating from law school in 2001.
Tulia, TX
Her first and most famous case, working for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational FundNAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City....
(LDF), involved 46 African-Americans in Tulia
Tulia, Texas
Tulia is a city in, and county seat of, Swisher County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,117 at the 2000 census; in the 2005 census estimate, it had fallen to 4,714. The city is at the junction of U.S. Route 87 and Texas State Highway 86, approximately two miles east Interstate 27...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, who had been convicted by an all-white jury on drug dealing charges. In almost every case, the only evidence was the testimony of an undercover agent, Tom Coleman. Coleman did not use wiretaps, and records showed that he had "filed shoddy reports", and had a previous misdemeanor charge for stealing gasoline from a county pump. Gupta won the release of all of the defendants in 2003, four years after they were jailed, then negotiated a $5 million settlement for those arrested.
Hutto
In 2007, after becoming a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, Gupta fought to improve the conditions for children and their families in immigration detention. In August 2007, a landmark agreement was reached between ACLU and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under which the conditions in the T. Don Hutto detention center improved and a number of children from the center were released.On 6 August 2009, the Department of Homeland Security announced intentions to improve the nation's immigration detention system, including ending family detention at the T. Don Hutto family detention center in Taylor, Texas.