Senate Narrowly Confirms Catherine Lhamon to Lead Education Department’s Civil Rights Arm

In this file photo, Catherine Lhamon addresses a meeting of Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in Washington, DC. on November 13, 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Catherine Lhamon will return to lead the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after the Senate narrowly confirmed her appointment in a party-line vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the 50-50 tie.

The Wednesday vote came more than five months after Lhamon was tapped by President Joe Biden as the nominee for assistant secretary for civil rights, a position she held under the Obama administration from 2013 to 2016. The nomination was then stalled in August following a deadlock in the Senate education committee.