President Biden selected law professor Margo Schlanger, a longtime civil rights advocate, to serve as assistant secretary for civil rights at the USDA, said the White House on Thursday. Schlanger headed the civil rights office at the Department of Homeland Security for two years during the Obama era.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the nomination “cements USDA’s commitment to civil rights and equity. … [S]he will be an essential voice in our effort to ensure access, inclusion, and fairness in all of our services and programs.” The assistant secretary for civil rights is responsible for ensuring fair treatment of USDA employees and enforcing civil rights protections for people dealing with the USDA.
Schlanger is the founder of the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, a source of information on civil rights. Now a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, she has also worked in the civil rights division of the Justice Department. “Schlanger has written and testified about how federal agencies can better implement civil rights goals, and has served as a court-appointed monitor in a statewide federal case protecting the rights of prisoners with disabilities,” said the White House.