Boston Ex-Prosecutor Ralph Boyd Wins Justice Dept. Civil Rights Post

Jet, August 13, 2001

For the post of assistant attorney general for civil rights, former Boston prosecutor Ralph F. Boyd Jr. was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate without as much as a dissenting vote.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Boyd's nomination on a voice vote, and the full Senate confirmed him by unanimous consent.

While serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997, Boyd received the attorney general's special achievement award for meritorious acts and services.

His smooth confirmation for the civil rights post came as a surprise to leaders of both parties.

Said Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft of Boyd's swift approval by the Senate, "Under his leadership, the civil rights division will be guided by the principle that no one should feel outside the prosecution of the law."

A partner in the Boston law firm Goodwin Procter & Hoar at the time of his nomination, Boyd, 44, is a native of Schenectady, NY, where his father founded the local NAACP chapter. He is a graduate of Haverford College and Harvard Law School.

Boyd and his wife, Angela, have five children.