Rachael Rollins, the first woman of color to hold the office of district attorney in the state of Massachusetts, has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become the state’s leading federal prosecutor, WCVB reports.

Rollins, pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate, will be the first Black woman to serve as U.S. District attorney for Massachusetts.

Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who both gave Rollins their recommendation for the position, said they are “certain that she will be a tremendous U.S. attorney” and pledged to work to make sure she’s confirmed as quickly as possible.

“District Attorney Rollins is a national leader on transforming the criminal justice system and shifting away from an approach based on punishment and penalization to one that combats the root causes of injustice, whether it be poverty, substance use, or racial disparity,” they said in their joint email statement.

As the top federal law enforcement official in Massachusetts, Rollins will oversee over 200 federal prosecutors. As part of the Department of Justice, she'll report to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

After the news became public, in an emailed statement, Rollins said that she is “incredibly humbled” by the nomination and “remains focused on doing the hard work of keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.”

Rollins has led the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office since 2019. In 2018, she defeated independent Michael Maloney by running on a platform of exposing racial disparities in the criminal justice system and slowing the cycle of mass incarceration.

A prosecutor who believes in progressive police reform, Rollins has been outspoken about the high-profile shootings of Black people by law enforcement and the need for justice for victims.

“The police have an incredibly hard job, and believe me, I know there are violent people that harm community and police but that’s not all of us. So we have to acknowledge that it’s not working and we have to sit together to come up with solutions, but it’s urgent, Rollins said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Rollins obtained her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1994, her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1997 and an LL.M. in labor and employment law from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999.

If confirmed, Rollins will be the first permanent U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts since Andrew Lelling.

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