Blumenthal Applauds Senate Judiciary Committee Approval of Vanessa Avery to Serve as United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, applauded the Committee’s approval of Vanessa Avery’s nomination to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

“I would like to say how proud I am of this nomination having held this job myself,” said Blumenthal ahead of the Committee’s vote. “She is a trial attorney with broad experience, enormous expertise, and superbly qualified for this role serving the people of Connecticut.”    

Avery’s nomination will now be sent to the full Senate for consideration. If confirmed, Avery would become the first Black woman to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut. 

Vanessa Avery has served as the Associate Attorney General for Enforcement, Litigation and Investigations at the Connecticut Attorney General's Office since 2019. In this role, she has managed multi-district litigation and investigations involving the opioid epidemic, the Affordable Care Act, federal immigration laws, environmental regulation, and cases pending locally in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies.

Prior to that, Avery was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. Avery has also served as a Trial Attorney for the Department of Justice Civil Division in Washington, D.C., a pro bono advocate for children, adults, and non-profit entities, and is a past President and current Advisory Board member of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association.

A native of the Newhallville neighborhood of New Haven, Avery attended Yale University for her undergraduate degree and earned her law degree at the Georgetown University Law Center.  

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