Cassandra Butts

American lawyer
Cassandra Butts
Personal details
Born(1965-08-10)August 10, 1965
New York City, U.S.
DiedMay 25, 2016(2016-05-25) (aged 50)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Cassandra Quin Butts (August 10, 1965 – May 25, 2016) was an American lawyer, policy expert, and Deputy White House counsel. On December 23, 2008, Butts was selected by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as Deputy White House Counsel, focusing on domestic policy and ethics.[1] She was on the advisory board for then-president-elect Barack Obama's presidential transition team.[2]

She stepped down as Deputy White House Counsel in November 2009 and served as Senior Advisor in the Office of the Chief Executive Officer at the Millennium Challenge Corporation.[3] In February 2014, Obama nominated her to be the ambassador to the Bahamas, but by February 1, 2015, the Senate had not confirmed her to the post. She was re-nominated to the position on February 5, 2015 but died as her nomination faced GOP opposition.[4]

Biography

Butts was born on August 10, 1965, in Brooklyn, New York, and at age nine moved to Durham, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in 1991 from Harvard Law School where she was a classmate of Barack Obama and the two became close friends.[5][6]

Butts' first job was as a counselor at the YMCA in Durham. From 1991-92, she worked as a fellow with the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), a nonprofit organization advocating for access to quality healthcare for low-income people. After college she worked for a year as a researcher with the African News Service in Durham.[7]

She was an election observer in the 2000 Zimbabwean parliamentary election and counsel to Senator Harris Wofford (D-PA). She also did litigation and policy work for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc, and spent seven years working as a senior adviser to US Representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri.[8] She became the Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress.[9]

Deputy White House Counsel

During her time as Deputy White House Counsel, Butts focused most on judicial nominations.[10] Records later showed that in the days after Associate Justice David Souter announced his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court, Butts was in frequent contact with President Obama's eventual nominee to replace Souter, Sonia Sotomayor.[10]

Butts also had been rumored in February 2009 to be a candidate to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).[10][11]

Millennium Challenge Corporation

On November 6, 2009, Obama named Butts to serve as a senior advisor in the Office of the Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.[12] Butts' departure was considered to be one of the highest-level departures up to that point from the office of the White House Counsel,[10] and it was followed one week later by the announcement of the departure of Butts' then-boss, White House Counsel Gregory Craig.[13]

Nomination to be Ambassador to the Bahamas

On February 7, 2014, Butts was nominated by President Obama to be United States Ambassador to the Bahamas. The Senate held a committee hearing on her nomination in May 2014, but took no action the rest of the year, and her nomination lapsed with the end of the 113th United States Congress.[14]

With the new Congress, Obama renominated her to the post on February 5, 2015. The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reported her nomination to the full U.S. Senate on May 21, 2015. However, Butts' nomination was blocked by several Republican senators. First, Sen. Ted Cruz placed a blanket hold on all U.S. State Department nominees after he was upset with Obama for the Iran nuclear deal.[15] However, after Cruz lifted those holds, Sen. Tom Cotton then stepped in and once again, to protest an issue unrelated to the specific nominees, blocked Butts' nomination and the nominations of ambassador nominees to Sweden and Norway after the Secret Service had leaked private information about a fellow member of Congress. Cotton later lifted his holds on the nominees to Sweden and Norway, but kept his hold on Butts' nomination.[15]

Butts told New York Times columnist Frank Bruni that she had visited Cotton about his objections to her nomination, and Cotton told her that because he knew that Obama and Butts were friends, blocking Butts was a way to "inflict special pain on the president," Bruni wrote.[15] According to Bruni's article, a spokeswoman for Cotton did not dispute Butts' account but did emphasize Cotton's respect for Butts and for her career.[15]

Butts died on May 25, 2016, still awaiting a Senate vote.[15] For several weeks after Butts' death, her nomination had remained pending before the U.S. Senate on its executive calendar. Obama formally withdrew her nomination on June 9, 2016.[16]

Death

Butts was found dead in her Washington, D.C. home by her sister on May 25, 2016. According to a statement from her family she had suffered from a brief illness.[14] Bruni wrote that she had suffered from acute leukemia and had not felt ill until just beforehand.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Obama appoints Cassandra Butts as Deputy White House Counsel". Think Progress. 2008-12-23. Archived from the original on 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  2. ^ "Obama Names Transition Team". Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  3. ^ "Cassandra Q. Butts-Senior Advisor-Millennium Challenge Corporation". Archived from the original on 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  4. ^ "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate". whitehouse.gov. February 5, 2015 – via National Archives.
  5. ^ "Obama's campaign staff a work in progress". Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  6. ^ "Obama names HLS alumni to transition team posts". Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  7. ^ Cooper, Helene (2008-11-27). "The New Team - Cassandra Q. Butts". New York Times.
  8. ^ Slater, Dan (2008-11-06). "Black Lawyers Ready to Rise Alongside Obama". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  9. ^ "Celebrating and Strengthening the Voting Rights Act". 2005-08-08. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  10. ^ a b c d "Deputy White House Counsel to Leave for Anti-Poverty Job". The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
  11. ^ "Dems sketch Obama staff, Cabinet - Politico.com Print View". Archived from the original on 2009-07-29. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  12. ^ "President Obama Taps Cassandra Butts to Serve as Senior Advisor at the Millennium Challenge Corporation". whitehouse.gov. November 6, 2009. Archived from the original on 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2009-11-14 – via National Archives.
  13. ^ Zeleny, Jeff, Jeff; Baker, Peter (November 14, 2009). "President's Top Lawyer to Step Down". New York Times. New York Times.
  14. ^ a b "Cassandra Q. Butts, Obama law school classmate and adviser, dies at 50". washingtonpost.com. May 28, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "An Obama Nominee's Crushed Hopes". The New York Times. June 7, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  16. ^ "Presidential Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate". whitehouse.gov. June 9, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016 – via National Archives.

External links

  • https://cassandrabuttsartscholarship.org/
  • Photo
  • Frontline interview
  • NPR Interview with Cassandra Butts
  • v
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Office Name Term Office Name Term
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel 2009–10 National Security Advisor James L. Jones 2009–10
Pete Rouse 2010–11 Thomas E. Donilon 2010–13
William M. Daley 2011–12 Susan Rice 2013–17
Jack Lew 2012–13 Deputy National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon 2009–10
Denis McDonough 2013–17 Denis McDonough 2010–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Mona Sutphen 2009–11 Antony Blinken 2013–14
Nancy-Ann DeParle 2011–13 Avril Haines 2015–17
Rob Nabors 2013–15 Dep. National Security Advisor, Homeland Security John O. Brennan 2009–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Jim Messina 2009–11 Lisa Monaco 2013–17
Alyssa Mastromonaco 2011–14 Dep. National Security Advisor, Iraq and Afghanistan Douglas Lute† 2009–13
Anita Decker Breckenridge 2014–17 Dep. National Security Advisor, Strategic Comm. Ben Rhodes 2009–17
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning Mark B. Childress 2012–14 Dep. National Security Advisor, Chief of Staff Mark Lippert 2009
Kristie Canegallo 2014–17 Denis McDonough 2009–10
Counselor to the President Pete Rouse 2011–13 Brooke D. Anderson 2011–12
John Podesta 2014–15 White House Communications Director Ellen Moran 2009
Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod 2009–11 Anita Dunn 2009
David Plouffe 2011–13 Daniel Pfeiffer 2009–13
Daniel Pfeiffer 2013–15 Jennifer Palmieri 2013–15
Shailagh Murray 2015–17 Jen Psaki 2015–17
Senior Advisor to the President Pete Rouse 2009–10 Deputy White House Communications Director Jen Psaki 2009–11
Brian Deese 2015–17 Jennifer Palmieri 2011–14
Senior Advisor to the President and Valerie Jarrett 2009–17 Amy Brundage 2014–16
Assistant to the President for Liz Allen 2016–17
Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs 2009–11
Director, Public Engagement Tina Tchen 2009–11 Jay Carney 2011–13
Jon Carson 2011–13 Josh Earnest 2013–17
Paulette L. Aniskoff 2013–17 Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton 2009–11
Director, Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz 2009–12 Josh Earnest 2011–13
David Agnew 2012–14 Eric Schultz 2014–17
Jerry Abramson 2014–17 Director of Special Projects Stephanie Cutter 2010–11
Director, National Economic Council Lawrence Summers 2009–10 Director, Speechwriting Jon Favreau 2009–13
Gene Sperling 2011–14 Cody Keenan 2013–17
Jeff Zients 2014–17 Director, Digital Strategy Macon Phillips 2009–13
Chair, Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer 2009–10 Chief Digital Officer Jason Goldman 2015–17
Austan Goolsbee 2010–13 Director, Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro 2009–11
Jason Furman 2013–17 Rob Nabors 2011–13
Chair, Economic Recovery Advisory Board Paul Volcker 2009–11 Katie Beirne Fallon 2013–16
Chair, Council on Jobs and Competitiveness Jeff Immelt 2011–13 Miguel Rodriguez 2016
Director, Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes 2009–12 Amy Rosenbaum 2016–17
Cecilia Muñoz 2012–17 Director, Political Affairs Patrick Gaspard 2009–11
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois 2009–13 David Simas 2011–16
Melissa Rogers 2013–17 Director, Presidential Personnel Nancy Hogan 2009–13
Director, Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle 2009–11 Johnathan D. McBride 2013–14
Director, Office of National AIDS Policy Jeffrey Crowley 2009–11 Valerie E. Green 2014–15
Grant N. Colfax 2011–13 Rodin A. Mehrbani 2016–17
Douglas M. Brooks 2013–17 White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown 2009–11
Director, Office of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrión Jr. 2009–10 Rajesh De 2011–12
Racquel S. Russell 2010–14 Douglas Kramer 2012–13
Roy Austin Jr. 2014–17 Joani Walsh 2014–17
Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner 2009–11 Director, Management and Administration Bradley J. Kiley 2009–11
White House Counsel Greg Craig 2009–10 Katy A. Kale 2011–15
Bob Bauer 2010–11 Maju Varghese 2015–17
Kathryn Ruemmler 2011–14 Director, Scheduling and Advance Alyssa Mastromonaco 2009–11
Neil Eggleston 2014–17 Danielle Crutchfield 2011–14
White House Cabinet Secretary Chris Lu 2009–13 Chase Cushman 2014–17
Danielle C. Gray 2013–14 Director, White House Information Technology David Recordon 2015–17
Broderick D. Johnson 2014–17 Director, Office of Administration Cameron Moody 2009–11
Personal Aide to the President Reggie Love 2009–11 Beth Jones 2011–15
Brian Mosteller 2011–12 Cathy Solomon 2015–17
Marvin D. Nicholson 2012–17 Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren 2009–17
Director, Oval Office Operations Brian Mosteller 2012–17 Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra 2009–12
Personal Secretary to the President Katie Johnson 2009–11 Todd Park 2012–14
Anita Decker Breckenridge 2011–14 Megan Smith 2014–17
Ferial Govashiri 2014–17 Director, Office of Management and Budget Peter R. Orszag 2009–10
Chief of Staff to the First Lady Jackie Norris 2009 Jack Lew 2010–12
Susan Sher 2009–11 Jeff Zients 2012–13
Tina Tchen 2011–17 Sylvia Mathews Burwell 2013–14
White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers 2009–10 Brian Deese 2014
Julianna Smoot 2010–11 Shaun Donovan 2014–17
Jeremy Bernard 2011–15 Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra 2009–11
Deesha Dyer 2015–17 Steven VanRoekel 2011–14
Chief of Staff to the Vice President Ron Klain 2009–11 Tony Scott 2015–17
Bruce Reed 2011–13 United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk 2009–13
Steve Ricchetti 2013–17 Michael Froman 2013–17
White House Chief Usher Stephen W. Rochon† 2009–11 Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske 2009–14
Angella Reid 2011–17 Michael Botticelli 2014–17
Director, White House Military Office George Mulligan 2009–13 Chair, Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley 2009–14
Emmett Beliveau 2013–15 Michael Boots 2014–15
Dabney Kern 2016–17 Christy Goldfuss 2015–17
† Remained from previous administration.
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