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# Statement by Secretary Cardona on President Biden's Nomination of Catherine Lhamon

# Statement by Secretary Cardona on President Biden's Nomination of Catherine Lhamon

May 13, 2021

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

                                    -        
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona today issued the following statement on President Biden's intent to nominate Catherine Lhamon for Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education:

"I am thrilled that President Biden is nominating Catherine Lhamon to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. Catherine has devoted her career to ensuring equity is at the core of all her work. She has a strong record of fighting for communities of color and underserved communities, whether as the current Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, the former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, or as a civil rights educator at Georgetown University. We are thrilled to have Catherine serving as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and know she will continue to fight for fairness, equity, and justice for all of America's students."
About Catherine Lhamon
Catherine Lhamon is Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council for Racial Justice and Equity, where she manages the President's equity policy portfolio.  Until January 2021, she chaired the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to which President Obama appointed her in 2016, and served as Legal Affairs Secretary to California Governor Gavin Newsom.  Before then, Lhamon was Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, to which President Obama nominated her and the Senate confirmed her in 2013.  Lhamon has also litigated civil rights cases at National Center for Youth Law, Public Counsel Law Center, and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.  Lhamon taught federal civil rights appeals at Georgetown University Law Center in the Appellate Litigation Program and clerked for the Honorable William A. Norris on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Born in Virginia and raised in California, Lhamon graduated from Amherst College and Yale Law School.  Lhamon and her husband and two daughters are transitioning between California and Maryland.
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