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The Voting Rights Veterans Biden Has Picked To Lead DOJ Have Their Work Cut Out For Them

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - JANUARY 07: U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (L) looks on as Vanita Gupta delivers remarks after being nominated to be U.S. associate attorney general by President-elect Joe Biden at The... WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - JANUARY 07: U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (L) looks on as Vanita Gupta delivers remarks after being nominated to be U.S. associate attorney general by 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) MORE LESS

February 25, 2021 12:43 p.m.

Voting rights advocates couldn’t be more excited about the civil rights veterans Biden has picked for key Justice Department roles. But what the DOJ can do, under the Biden-selected leadership, to protect access to the ballot box has left them a little less optimistic.

Even with new leadership, the enforcement landscape has been complicated by hobbled laws, a hostile judiciary and the risk that a future administration will come in and, once again, drastically change course.

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