Who are the Asian Americans likely to be on Joe Biden's Cabinet?

Tammy Duckworth was sworn in by then-Vice President Joe Biden.

OPINION:

Between now and Jan. 20 when Presidnt-elect Joe Biden will be installed, he will be  building his Cabinet, a cohort of trusted advisors. One thing for certain, his Cabinet will be a lot more diverse than Donald Trump's. Biden said that his administration will be made up of men and women who look like America.

There are several Asian Americans who might find a spot in Biden's inner circcle.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH: The Illinois senator was among the finalists for Biden's choices for Vice President. Duckworth, a decorated veterans of the Iraq war, has a compelling story as an immigrant.. She was a  helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, losing both her legs when her copter was shot down.  Before turning to politics, she headed the Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs. While serving in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, she built a reputation as a strong advocate for veteran rights. She would fit in as head of Veterans Affairs or Secretary of Defense.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY: As soon as Biden's won the majority of electoral college votes, one of his first actions was to name the Indian America to head his coronavirus task force. Murthy served as the U.S. Surgeon General in the President Barack Obama administration so he and Biden already have a working relationship.

JULIE SU: California’s current Sec. of Labor and Workforce Development and a former California labor commissioner, she also served as litigation director at Advancing Justice L.A. and has spent 17 years of her career as a civil rights lawyer with a focus on protecting low-wage workers and immigrant victims of crime and human trafficking. She'd would make a good Secretary of Labor.

ARUN MAJUMDAR: Majumdar was the first director of DOE's flagship agency for innovation, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. A Stanford University engineering professor, he was named Tuesday to lead the Biden transition team for the agency. Observers said he would bring both scientific credibility and political expertise as the Secretary of Energy, which would be high profile position in a Biden administration's plans to transition to clean energy.

NEAL KATYAL: Katyal, who is currently professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center, served briefly as Acting Solicitor General of the United States during the Obama administration.  He also held the position while the Trump administration was trying to find their own person. Most recently, the Indian American has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration policies. If he were to lead the Department of Justice, he would have a massive job of rebuilding a culture utterly destroyed by Trump and AG William Barr.

VANITA GUPTA: Another possible candidate for the DOJ or Homeland Security, Gupta left the public sector when Trump came into office, Gupta has kept her finger on the pulse of policy making, fighting against Trump's egregious violations of civil rights, as CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. In the Obama presidency, she served as Acting Assistant Attorney General and Head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

ANDREW YANG: By the time Yang left the Democratic primary campaign for POTUS, Biden began using Yang's vocabulary about a "third industrial revolution." Yang also was very active campaigning for Biden, attracting and exciting the young voters least likely to vote. Biden and Yang were often seen talking one-on-one after the debates. Biden reportedly told Yang that there would be a position for Yang in a Biden administration. A new cabinet position might be created to fit Yang's forward-looking ideas. Department of Innovation & Technology, anybody?

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

Two Asian American lawyers say Trump actions to replace Sessions is 'unconstitutiona'

FOR THE SECOND TIME in less than a month, George Conway, the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, joined with former U.S. Solicitor General Neal K. Katyal to give a fiery critique of Donald Trump's actions.

The staunch conservative lawyer who made a name for himself by his work attacking former President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinski incident, and Katyal, who worked under President Barack Obama, cowrote an oped in the New York Times calling Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general as "unconstitutional."

The two Asian American lawyers representing opposite ends of the political spectrum, jointly wrote another oped that appeared in the Washington Post arguing the illegality of Trump's proposal to overturn the "birth right" provision of the 14th Amendment.

“President Trump’s installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It’s illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid,” wrote the two lawyer in the oped published Thursday.

George Conway, leeft and Neal Katyal

The basic argument the lawyers make is that the position of acting Attorney General should be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. By appointing Whitacker, Trump is evading the process mandated by the Constitution.

Senate confirmation exists for a simple, and good, reason,” write Conway and Katyal.

“Constitutionally, Matthew Whitaker is a nobody. His job as Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff did not require Senate confirmation,” continued the opinion piece.

For the past year, Conway has become more outspoken in his criticism of his wife's boss. Through a series of articles and social media, he has lambasted Trump's attacks on the media, Trump's "shameless" lying, criticized the firing of former FBI director James Comey and Trump's attempts to end the Mueller probe of Russia's alleged connections with the Trump campaign.
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