New DOJ hire has Jerry Falwell-signed law degree, defended Kavanaugh, and worked for a hate group

Daily Kos Staff

Friday December 07, 2018 · 2:21 PM PST

2018/12/07 · 14:21

A top job in the Department of Justice may seem out of reach for a graduate of a bottom-tier law school, but if that bottom-tier law school is Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, Donald Trump is president, and said graduate embraces a future of hatemongering, the sky is the limit. Just ask Kerri Kupec, the recently appointed director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Justice Department.

Kupec, a 2011 Liberty Law grad, is perfect for her new position, which opened up after the ouster of Attorney General Jeff Sessions just after the midterm elections. Kupec replaces Sarah Isgur Flores, a longtime Sessions ally, according to the Daily Beast; Flores now works for Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.

First of all, let’s look at what the Office of Public Affairs actually does.

The Office of Public Affairs is the principal point of contact for the Department of Justice with the news media.

The Office is responsible for ensuring that the public is informed about the Department's activities and about the priorities and policies of the Attorney General and the President with regard to law enforcement and legal affairs.

The Office advises the Attorney General and other Department officials on all aspects of media relations and communications issues. The Office also coordinates the public affairs units of all Department component organizations.

The Office of Public Affairs prepares and issues Department news releases and frequently reviews and approves those issued by component agencies. It serves reporters assigned to the Department by responding to queries, issuing news releases and statements, arranging interviews and conducting news conferences.

The Office ensures that information provided to the news media by the Department is current, complete and accurate. It also ensures that all applicable laws, regulations and policies involving the release of information to the public are followed so that maximum disclosure is made without jeopardizing investigations and prosecutions, violating rights of individuals, or compromising national security interests.

So how does a fairly recent graduate of a subpar law school find herself in such a crucial PR position? For Kupec, it took years of hard work spreading homophobia and the right-wing agenda through the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit that describes itself as “an alliance for victory,” founded because “Christian leaders … recognized that Christians … needed to unite in order to defend religious freedom before it was too late.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, on the other hand, has identified the ADF as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

(T)he Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that has supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has linked homosexuality to pedophilia and claims that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society. ADF also works to develop “religious liberty” legislation and case law that will allow the denial of goods and services to LGBT people on the basis of religion.

Since the election of President Donald Trump, the ADF has become one of the most influential groups informing the administration’s attack on LGBT rights working with an ally in Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The SPLC also notes that the ADF is essentially a farm system for the conservative machine in D.C.

Kupec has spent the last four years as a mouthpiece for the powerful organization, typically ranting about supposed attacks on religious freedom on such respected networks as the Christian Broadcasting Network and Fox News. The new DOJ OPA director also made the rounds on the Christian college keynote circuit.

Whenever she’s given the chance, she’s spreading the word: Religious freedom is under attack, especially when gays want their cakes baked.

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That’s right: Kupec punched her pundit card by working for the people who defended the right of Colorado’s Masterpiece Bakery to only bake wedding cakes for straight couples. She also likes to remind people that her ~~hate group~~ former employer defended a Missouri Lutheran school’s fight for state money in the so-called “Playground Case,” testing the separation of church and state.

Kupec soared into the mainstream, however, by raging against the supposed fake-news machine when the SPLC name the ADF a hate group. Rather than, like, you know, stop doing hateful shit, the former ADF spokesperson took to the airwaves and declared that the SPLC was the real hate group. Radicals, she called them, as she demanded that outlets covering the hate-group designation retract their coverage and apologize.

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Most recently, she worked for the White House confirmation team pushing Brett “I like beer” Kavanaugh down the nation’s throat. This, despite numerous allegations of sexual assault, bold statements that showed his potential to be a terrible Supreme Court justice, and a widely watched hearing that showed he had no respect for women and a demeanor and temper unbecoming the highest court in the nation. Arguably, Kupec proved she could handle the job in this gnarly interview with The Hill, in which she showed her inner Huckabee-Sanders, aggressively dodging every question that came her way, even when called out by journalists multiple times. She may not rock a smokey eye, but Kupec surely makes the Huckster proud.

And so this, dear reader, is the formula for a graduate of a bottom-tier law school seeking a cushy federal leadership job in a trash administration, just a few years out of school: Embrace anti-LGBTQ and forced-birth sentiments. Frame every legal battle as a war on Christianity. Shout about fake news and equate freedom of religion with the right to treat people as lesser-than because of their sexual orientation or ability to get pregnant. Befriend and defend alleged sexual predators who throw temper tantrums and really like beer. Join powerful organizations that spread your “faith-driven” hate.

In short, if you are a poorly educated, success-chasing hatemonger with a mediocre on-camera presence, there’s a job in this administration for you.

Congratulations, Director Kupec. We know you worked hard to achieve your dreams of joining the fast-paced world of orange-tinged corruption.

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