Following her appointment to the position of United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts this week, her contentious past has come under scrutiny.
Rachael Rollins, 50, was appointed as Massachusetts' top federal prosecutor on a party-line vote on Wednesday, with Vice President Kamala Harris delivering the tie-breaking vote in the Senate's equally split chamber.
Senate appoints new US attorney for Massachusetts
Rollins made history as the first black woman to occupy the position of a federal prosecutor in Boston and the state of Massachusetts, and she has received widespread accolades from progressives. However, Rollins's appointment to the key position has drawn increased attention to a number of issues from her past, many of which surfaced when she was the Suffolk County District Attorney.
A minor arrest when she was a teenager, a dispute with a police union after she said cops "murder us with impunity," and an event in which she publicly told colleagues DAs she didn't "have much time for more white males telling me what communities of color need" are among the concerns, Daily Mail reported.
She was also seen furiously approaching a television team earlier this year in a startling video after a driver accused her of impersonating a police officer in a road rage incident.
Rollins has previously disregarded criticisms of similar incidents, claiming that racism and "white fragility" are at blame. In July, President Joe Biden nominated Rollins to lead the United States. Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, which earned national attention for its investigation into the "Varsity Blues" college admissions fraud.
Rollins is part of a movement of progressive prosecutors, who aim to reduce racial injustices in the judicial system by rejecting a conventional tough-on-crime attitude, which they claim has resulted in the disproportionate imprisonment of black males.
The Boston Herald reported on court papers revealing that Rollins was charged with the minor felony of receiving stolen goods in 1991, when she was 19 years old, as her Senate confirmation loomed. She pled not guilty and paid $200 in court fees, and the matter was prolonged without a finding for five months before being dropped.
Video resurfaces of Joe Biden's new US attorney
The stolen goods were not specified in the court documents, and Rollins declined to reveal any specifics about the event other than that it was "trivial" and "influenced her ideas on criminal justice reform."
After a video emerged showing her shouting at local reporters, Republicans are concerned about President Joe Biden's latest nominee for US attorney. Rachael Rollins, Biden's nominee for US attorney for the District of Massachusetts, was attacked by Project 21 co-founder Horace Cooper when the film showed her harassing journalists outside her house.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has blasted Rollins for declining to prosecute persons suspected of certain crimes, calling her "soft on crime" and asking "all senators to vote no" on Rollins, as per The Washington Examiner.
After being approved as President Biden's US attorney for Massachusetts, a video of incoming Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins rebuking media for trying to interview her outside of work resurfaced Wednesday.
Rollins accused the media of endangering her children's life when a reporter demanded an interview near her house in a video from January 2021. The video team from Boston 25 News, a Fox affiliate, asked Rollins whether she would be ready to answer questions. Rollins, clearly agitated, wanted to know how the reporters knew where she lived, to which they replied that it was public information.
Per Fox News, Vice President Kamala Harris voted in favor of Rollins' confirmation as a new US attorney in Massachusetts on Wednesday. Several members of Congress, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts, hailed Biden's appointment for the US attorney role in Massachusetts when the White House announced it in July.
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