.S. Attorney Alex Acosta’s past in the Justice Department’s civil rights division is bubbling up just as he becomes a front-runner for dean of Florida International University’s School of Law in Miami.
Acosta — an appointee of former President Bush — is expected to be replaced by the Obama administration after four years as the top federal prosecutor in South Florida. He is discovering academic politics can be as vicious as any he experienced at the Justice Department under Bush.
H.T. Smith, a trailblazing black attorney for more than three decades and director of FIU’s trial advocacy program, is the most vocal community leader questioning Acosta’s qualifications based on his work in Washington. Faculty members voice concern that Acosta is a bad choice for a law school that was created in part to graduate more minority lawyers.
Concern about Acosta’s stint at the Justice Department’s civil rights division has been building among some faculty members since he was named last week along with three others as candidates of interest by the FIU search committee, Smith said.
News articles about Acosta’s service have been making their way around via e-mail.
Acosta was chastised in a January report by the Justice Department’s inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility for failing to supervise a rogue administrator intent on politicizing the civil rights division by hiring arch-conservatives from 2003 to 2006.
Smith, the first black assistant public defender in Miami, also points to an unsolicited opinion letter to a judge written by Acosta on Ohio election law, siding with Republicans who wanted to challenge black voters in 2004.
Democrats complained that Republicans targeted minorities in the swing state by using mass mailings to compile a list of voters vulnerable to eligibility challenges.
“Anybody who believes in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity should be concerned when there are serious allegations or when there are violations of the rights of minorities,” Smith said. “I am cautiously hopeful that those who are responsible for vetting the applicants for the dean of law school position will thoroughly investigate.”
Smith was the founding president of the Black Lawyers Association of Miami-Dade County, now known as the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association, and he was a leader of the successful black tourism boycott after local leaders snubbed former South African president Nelson Mandela during a visit to South Florida.
Acosta’s supporters say Acosta would be a fine choice for dean.
He’s a Miami native, a young Hispanic who has proven he can juggle sensitive issues as U.S. attorney by reaching across agency boundaries to fight health-care fraud, terrorism and political corruption.
And other law schools have tapped more controversial conservatives. Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., tapped Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr as dean.
Acosta, low key by temperament, said Wednesday that he did not think it was appropriate to address concerns of potential future colleagues, such as Smith, in the media.
“I look forward to discussing whatever concerns members of the faculty or FIU community may have during my on-campus interviews later this spring or earlier if they so wish,” he said. “I stand by my own record at the National Labor Relations Board, the civil rights division and the U.S. attorney’s office.”
Before joining the Justice Department in 2003 as an assistant attorney general, Acosta was confirmed by the Senate as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where served for less than a year.
“There is a lot of concern in the faculty,” a law school professor said on condition of anonymity. “This is a candidate that has this history.”
The professor said there were other, more qualified candidates in the pool and questioned the selection process.
“Some of the candidates have vision and perspectives that are more consistent with the kind of school we are, a school that has a very diverse faculty and a very diverse student body,” the educator said.
Marva Wiley, president of the Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association, said the Ohio letter was particularly worrisome. Acosta sent the letter without prompting four days before the 2004 election to a federal judge in Ohio who was deciding whether to allow Republicans to challenge the registrations of about 23,000 mostly African-American voters. Acosta argued it would “undermine” the enforcement of state and federal election laws if citizens could not challenge voters’ credentials.
Acosta later said the letter was intended to make clear that anyone whose eligibility was questioned had a right to file a provisional ballot.
“He got into that unsolicited. Nobody asked him,” Wiley said. “He felt it important enough to involve the authority of the government on what many would consider a fundamental issue of equity.”
Issues of equity have been on the agenda of FIU’s seven-year-old law school, which places a priority on providing an affordable legal education for South Florida’s diverse population. The public university graduates more Hispanics than any other college in the country.
“It’s all about inclusion,” Wiley said. “That’s the legacy of this law school. Can he carry that? Can he embrace that?” The selection of Acosta “could be a possible turnoff for students,” she said.
The attention on Acosta’s past started when the Justice Department report released in January concluded he turned a blind eye on one of his top administrators, Bradley Schlozman, who politicized the civil rights division by hiring arch-conservatives, or, as he put it, “real Americans.”
Acosta was told of problems with Schlozman, including a racially insensitive e-mail to staff, but did nothing.
Smith said that he could understand if Acosta made a mistake with the Ohio letter, but that the lack of supervision of Schlozman shows a pattern.
“One of my favorite sayings is there is no lesson to be learned in the second kick of a mule. You make an innocent error the first time, you should learn from it,” Smith said.
Acosta has plenty of support, though, in and out of his office.
His spokeswoman, Alicia Valle, said her boss has been committed to diversity. “His hiring has been representative of the community at all levels of the office,” she said.
An assistant U.S. attorney, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was concerned the office would be politicized when Acosta arrived in May 2005 but noted most of his top assistants are Democrats.
“It’s not right to judge him on that stuff that happened in D.C. Judge him on the stuff that happened here and what’s he’s done,” the prosecutor said.
“I think everyone would agree he has been exemplary.”
Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey and former federal prosecutor Peter Prieto said Acosta would be a great choice for FIU.
“The U.S. attorney’s office under his leadership has a tremendous record of hiring great people without any preference to partisanship,” said Coffey, who marshaled poll watchers in Miami-Dade County for the Democrats last November. He is a partner in Coffey Burlington in Miami.
Coffey said that Acosta’s wrangling of federal agencies is a skill needed to navigate academia.
Prieto, head of Holland & Knight’s national litigation section, said Acosta adeptly navigated the choppy waters of diversity as U.S. attorney.
“The job of a law school dean is incredibly important, especially at a school like FIU, which has tremendous potential,” he said. “He brings both the intelligence and the fundraising ability to be a very good dean.”
In addition to Acosta, others candidates on the short list to replace Leonard Strickman are all academics: Jimmy Gurulé, law professor at the University of Notre Dame; David Brennen, deputy director of the Association of American Law Schools; and Colin Picker, law professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law.
_________________
Profile
R. Alexander Acosta
Age: 40
Background: The Miami native attended the Gulliver Schools.
Education: Harvard, J.D., B.A.
Experience: U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Florida, 2005-present; assistant attorney general, Justice Department civil rights division, 2003-05; National Labor Relations Board member, 2002-03; deputy attorney general, Justice Department civil rights division, 2001-02; Project on the Judiciary, director and founder, 1997-2000; Kirkland & Ellis associate, Washington, 1995-97; clerk for then-3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., 1994-95; taught employment law and disability-based discrimination classes, George Mason University School of Law.
Major prosecutions as U.S. Attorney: Jose Padilla and Liberty City Seven terrorism trials; corruption cases against former Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne, Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach city commissioners.
John Pacenti can be reached at (305) 347-6638.
Alex Acosta photo by A.M. Holt
|
Reader's comments
Nelso said: I find it funny how people knock someone just because of his race. I don't know who this HT Smith guy is, but I wonder if he would be so critical of Alex Acosta if Alex Acosta was black. I just think race is such a polarizing issue in this country that when a black man criticizes a white man, or a white man does the same to a black man, race is almost always at play. And that is too bad. March 13 at 8:13 a.m.
James said: Nelso is right. I agree with him 100%. I wonder if Mr Smith would have the same objections if Mr Acosta was a black man. I have a funny feeling we wouldn't be hearing from him. 8:51 a.m.
Cynthia said: In response to "Nelso": The article describes who H.T. Smith is quite well. The race of Mr. Acosta is not mentioned at all. The quotes by both the supporters and critics of Mr. Acosta, speak to his actions, or lack thereof; not his race nor his ethnicity. 8:59 a.m.
RP said: HT is playing the race card. So much for Obama ushering in a post-racial society.10:01 a.m.
Jay said: All, please note that Mr. Acosta is not white, hee too like Mr. Smith is a minority. Everyone in the USA brings up somthing whenever they refer to another; either they are black, white, Jewish, muslim, Irish, German, Italian or something. Just stop and listen to how we as Americans speak! it's always in racial or origin terms. Do we hear ourselves whenever we do this? It's all learned behavior. I'ts more impotant that we get qualified appointee that are fully vetted than to have regrets later no matter who brings it up or what their color. Let us start stripping this stuff from our own language before we critize others. 12:33 p.m.
Raul Carreras Jr. said: What are some of these faculty members thinking? Their argument that the appointment of a highly qualified Hispanic to be dean of a law school whose student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic "could be a possible turnoff for students,” is utter nonsense. The real beef these faculty members have is that Acosta does not fit the usual profile for academia: he is a conservative with real world experience. FIU could do a lot worse than Alex Acosta. 1:48 p.m. | |
