Catherine Elizabeth Lhamon (born August 5, 1971) is an American attorney and government official who is the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. She previously served in this position from 2013 to 2017. During her tenure, Lhamon instituted changes to Title IX rules that were praised by some feminist and

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

groups, but received criticism across the political spectrum as violations of

due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...

. She was also deputy chair of the United States Domestic Policy Council for racial justice and equality from January to October 2021, and chaired the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 2016 to 2021.

Early life and education

Lhamon was raised in Palo Alto, California. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

and

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from Yale Law School.

Career

Lhamon began her career as a law clerk for

William Albert Norris William Albert Norris (August 30, 1927 – January 21, 2017) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Norris was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on February 27, 1980, to a seat vacated by ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, then joined the Appellate Litigation Program at Georgetown University Law Center. For ten years, she was an attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. After that, she was with the ''pro bono'' law firm

Public Counsel Public Counsel is the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the United States. Initially called the Beverly Hills Bar Association Law Foundation, it was the first bar-sponsored public interest law firm in the United States. Background ...

. In 2013, Lhamon became the assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education. During her tenure, that office issued "Dear Colleague" letters and other guidelines to school officials, clarifying that a school's failure to appropriately respond to sexual violence or its mistreatment of transgender students can constitute sex discrimination in violation of Title IX, outlining how schools can ensure that student discipline complies with laws prohibiting race discrimination, and explaining how the use of restraint or seclusion can result in unlawful discrimination against students with disabilities.U.S. Dept. of Education
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Reading Room
/ref> The Title IX guidelines she instituted banned lawyers for the accused from cross-examining witnesses, strongly discouraged the accused from cross-examining witnesses, strongly encouraged schools to allow the complainants not to disclose their identity to the accused, and required schools to use a preponderance of evidence standard (i.e., more likely than not, as opposed to very likely or beyond a reasonable doubt) in evaluating claims. Some

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

organizations praised the new requirements and criticized the Trump Administration's education secretary Betsy DeVos for reversing them.

Ms. Magazine ''Ms.'' is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Ca ...

hailed "a week of progress for the Obama administration". But the new regulations were criticized by conservatives, libertarians, and some liberals and feminists as violations of the due process rights of the accused. Feminist author

Lara Bazelon Lara Bazelon (born February 14, 1974) is an American academic and journalist. She is a law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law where she holds the Barnett Chair in Trial Advocacy and directs the Criminal & Juvenile and Ra ...

wrote that the regulations "gave risk-averse schools incentives to expel the accused without any reliable fact-finding process." In 2015, 16 University of Pennsylvania professors signed a letter expressing concern about the regulations' fairness. The regulations were reversed in 2020 by education secretary Betsy DeVos. In December 2016 Lhamon was appointed chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In 2019, she was appointed California Legal Affairs Secretary by Governor Gavin Newsom. In 2019, Lhamon was mentioned by liberal group Demand Justice as one of their recommended

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

nominees. On May 13, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Lhamon for a second term as assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. The nomination was submitted to the Senate on the same day and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The committee deadlocked on an August 3 vote to report the nomination favorably to the Senate. The Senate voted to discharge the nomination from the committee on October 7 by a vote of 50–49. Vice President Kamala Harris cast two tie-breaking votes on October 20 on the Senate's motion to invoke cloture on, as well as to confirm, Lhamon's nomination.

Personal life

Lhamon is married to Giev Kashkooli, the political and legislative director of the United Farm Workers union. They have two children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lhamon, Catherine 1971 births 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Amherst College alumni Biden administration personnel Jewish American attorneys Jewish American government officials Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia Living people Obama administration personnel Trump administration personnel United States Commission on Civil Rights members United States Department of Education officials Women government officials Yale Law School alumni