“No one, not even the president of the United States, can use the law to advance his or her own political agenda. It’s that simple.” From the VFArchive: Letitia James isn’t one to shy away from holding the powerful to account.
For three decades, 62-year-old Letitia"Tish" James, from her home base in Brooklyn, has been a towering presence in New York City and state politics. As a public defender, councilwoman, New York City public advocate—and now state attorney general—she's maintained what she calls a"unique perspective on the lives of people of color, working-class people.
But the inverse of humility is pride. And she's been proudly defiant in her ongoing"struggle." She has taken on predatory residential-housing landlords. Fought to have school buses equipped with air-conditioning. Helped bring gender equity policy into law. Pushed for nondisclosure of salary history in hiring processes. Undertook a quixotic cage match against Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project—which led to the construction of the popular Barclays Center.
Now she's squaring off against two of her biggest legal foes to date—the president and the National Rifle Association—vaulting her into the national limelight."Since I've taken office [as A.G.]," she says,"we have filed about 50 lawsuits against the federal government to challenge these unlawful attacks [on civil rights].
Her efforts to dissolve the NRA have drawn ire across the political spectrum, with some detractors claiming she harbors a vendetta against a group she described in a 2018article as a"terrorist" organization. James dismisses accusations of partisanship or a hidden agenda."The litigation we have initiated has nothing to do with my personal views, and it has nothing to do with the Second Amendment," she explains."The fact is, New York State has jurisdiction.
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