Ken Cuccinelli


Kenneth Thomas "Cooch" Cuccinelli II is an American lawyer and politician who served as the senior official performing the duties of deputy secretary of homeland security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the principal deputy and acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and was attorney general of Virginia from 2010 to 2014.
Cuccinelli previously served in the Virginia Senate, representing the 37th district in Fairfax County from 2002 until 2010, and as the 46th attorney general of Virginia from 2010 until 2014. Cuccinelli was the Republican nominee for Governor of Virginia in the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election, losing to the Democratic nominee, Terry McAuliffe.
A self-described opponent of homosexuality, Cuccinelli in his position as Virginia attorney general defended anti-sodomy laws and prohibitions on same-sex marriage. Cuccinelli rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, and in his position as attorney general investigated climate scientists whom he accused of fraud. Characterized as an immigration hard-liner, Cuccinelli sought to prohibit undocumented immigrants from attending universities, repeal birthright citizenship, and force employees to speak English in the workplace.
His appointment as acting USCIS director during Donald Trump's first administration was ruled unlawful by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in March 2020, who found it to be in violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. Later that year, the Government Accountability Office found that his appointment as the acting deputy secretary to have been illegal as well.

Early life and education

Cuccinelli was born in Edison, New Jersey, the son of Maribeth and Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli. His father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish ancestry. He attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1986, and received a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a JD from George Mason University School of Law, and an MA in international commerce and policy, also from George Mason University. In 1993 Cuccinelli entered the United States Marine Corps, but was discharged after failing to complete his initial training and did only one week on active duty.

Career

Cuccinelli co-founded a general practice law firm in Fairfax, Virginia.

Virginia State Senate (2002–2010)

Cuccinelli ran for the state Senate in the 37th District in an August 2002 special election. He defeated Democrat Catherine Belter 55%–45%. In 2003, he was re-elected to his first full term, defeating Democrat Jim E. Mitchell III 53% to 47%. In 2007, he barely won re-election to his second full term, narrowly defeating Democrat Janet Oleszek by a 0.3-point margin, a difference of just 92 votes out of about 37,000 votes cast.

Attorney general of Virginia (2010–2014)

In 2009, Cuccinelli was selected as the Republican nominee for attorney general, going on to win 58% of the vote. Republican Bob McDonnell became governor, and Bill Bolling was re-elected as lieutenant governor. Cuccinelli was inaugurated on January 16, 2010.
In 2010, Cuccinelli was the first attorney general to file a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. During his 2013 run for governor, Cuccinelli opposed the ACA's Medicaid expansion.
In July 2010, Cuccinelli joined eight other states in filing an amicus brief opposing the federal government's lawsuit challenging an Arizona immigration enforcement statute. In August 2010, Cuccinelli authorized law enforcement officials to investigate the immigration status of anyone that they stopped.
Cuccinelli rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. In 2010, Cuccinelli sought judicial review of the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gasses endanger public health. In 2012, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Cuccinelli's arguments. In 2010, Cuccinelli announced he would challenge the March 2010 standards for motor vehicle fuel efficiency specified in the Clean Air Act. In April 2010, as part of the attorney general of Virginia's climate science investigation, Cuccinelli served a civil investigative demand on the University of Virginia seeking a broad range of documents related to climate researcher Michael E. Mann. On August 30, 2010, Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled that "the nature of the conduct is not stated so that any reasonable person could glean what Dr. Mann did to violate the statute." Cuccinelli appealed the case to the Virginia Supreme Court, which ruled that Cuccinelli did not have the authority to make these demands. The outcome was hailed as a victory for academic freedom.
Cuccinelli opposes homosexuality, describing homosexual acts as "against nature" and "harmful to society." Cuccinelli opposes same-sex marriage. He has argued against the constitutionality of same-sex marriages. In 2010, Cuccinelli called on Virginia universities to remove " 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' 'gender expression,' or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly."
He defended the constitutionality of Virginia laws prohibiting sodomy. In March 2013, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down Virginia's anti-sodomy law, finding it unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. On June 25, 2013, Cuccinelli filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, but in October 2013 the Supreme Court denied Cuccinelli's appeal. On November 24, 2010, Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion that police, school administrators, and teachers could search students' cell phones on the basis of reasonable suspicions in order to deter cyberbullying and "sexting." The ACLU and the Rutherford Institute said that Cuccinelli's opinion was in error, lacking a legal foundation.
Since 2007, his office negotiated settlements of almost $8 million representing refunds from eight auto-title lenders, filed a lawsuit against CNC Financial Services, Inc. for charging interest rates of 300 percent or more, and filed two separate lawsuits against two Virginia Beach-based mortgage modification companies for charging customers up to $1,200 in illegal advance fees. He was involved in passing legislation targeting human trafficking.

2013 Virginia gubernatorial candidacy

After his election as attorney general, it was speculated that Cuccinelli was a potential candidate for governor in the 2013 election or for the United States Senate in 2014. Cuccinelli himself stated that he was considering running for the Senate. Two days later, one of his aides said, "We haven't ruled out anything. He's not actively considering a run for any particular office at the moment. Ken is operating under the assumption that he will run for reelection . He hasn't ruled out any option besides running for president, which he has no desire to do."
On November 30, 2011, The Washington Post reported that Cuccinelli would announce within days that he was running for governor in 2013; the next day, Cuccinelli confirmed that he would run. Cuccinelli said he would continue serving as attorney general during his run. He is the first attorney general since 1985 to remain in office while seeking the governorship rather than resign the position while seeking the office, a precedent that the last six attorneys general to run for governor have adhered to.
Cuccinelli lost to Terry McAuliffe on November 5, 2013, by 56,435 votes, or 2.5% of total ballots cast. The Libertarian Party candidate, Robert Sarvis, received 146,084 votes, or 6.5% of the vote total.

Business and politics (2014–2017)

In 2014, Cuccinelli was involved with the co-founding of an oyster farming company in Tangier, Virginia.
In the 2016 presidential election, Cuccinelli served as an advisor to Ted Cruz's campaign, leading the campaign's effort to win delegates for Cruz at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
In early polls on the 2017 gubernatorial race, Cuccinelli was a frontrunner for the Republican nomination. However, in April 2016, Cuccinelli announced that he would not run for governor in 2017.
In May 2016, Cuccinelli was named general counsel of the FreedomWorks Foundation, where he helps state attorneys general who want to oppose a federal regulation.
In January 2017, Cuccinelli filed a legal brief on behalf of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, challenging a 2015 law which freezes base electricity rates charged by Dominion Power, one of the state's most powerful corporations, and Appalachian Power Company. The basis of the brief is that the law allows these semi-public electric utility companies to charge excess rates. Cuccinelli said "This is a legalized transfer from poorer Virginians to two utility companies. It is unfair and unjust and unconstitutional, and it's bad policy."

''De facto'' acting USCIS director (2019–2021)

Cuccinelli was appointed to serve as the principal deputy director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in June 2019, allowing him to become the acting director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
As the administrator of USCIS, Cuccinelli was in charge of the systems for legal immigration and naturalization. He said that he regarded access to immigration as a privilege, not a right, and that "we are not a benefit agency, we are a vetting agency."

Appointment controversy

Cuccinelli was appointed acting director when leading Senators indicated he had little chance of Senate confirmation as permanent director. He was first appointed to a newly created position of "principal deputy director," which according to Department of Homeland Security officials allowed him to then be appointed as acting director under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
The appointment as acting director of USCIS may have circumvented the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, according to the chairs of the House committees on Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Government Oversight. FVRA stipulates eligibility criteria for temporarily filling positions that require Senate confirmation. Before being considered for the position, Cuccinelli had met none of the eligibility criteria. In a letter to the acting secretary of homeland security, the House committee chairs alleged that the brief appointment to "principal deputy director" had been retroactively applied, possibly in violation of the law. The USCIS employees union also challenged the legality of Cuccinelli's appointment.
In September 2019, a lawsuit was filed challenging his asylum directives, partially on the basis that his appointment was invalid. On March 1, 2020, US District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss ruled that Cuccinelli was not lawfully appointed to serve as acting director and therefore lacked authority to issue two of the directives challenged in the lawsuit. Because the case was not filed as a class action, Moss was "unconvinced" that his relief should be extended to other asylum seekers not part of the original suit. On August 12, 2020, the government dropped its appeal in the case.