Alliance for Justice urges swift confirmation of Secretary of Labor nominee Tom Perez

On April 18, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, President Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.

When Tom Perez took leadership of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in 2009, he took over a unit “demoralized by its political leadership and diverted from its traditional tasks.” As former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden explains in The Huffington Post:

In particular, as found in an Inspector General report issued in January 2009, the Division had implemented illegal personnel practices, including making hiring decisions and case assignments based on partisanship rather than merit, and we observed that there were severe continuing consequences for morale, management, and effectiveness.

Fortunately, under Perez’s stewardship, the Civil Rights Division has experienced a remarkable turnaround, restoring its reputation as a stalwart defender of federal civil rights laws. Over the last four years, the Division has renewed enforcement of predatory lending, disability, employment discrimination, hate crimes, and veterans’ rights laws.

Furthermore,  Perez enjoys broad, bipartisan support. Dozens of groups, from civil rights advocates to business leaders, have written letters endorsing his nomination and urging his confirmation as Secretary of Labor. However, a minority of Republicans have threatened to filibuster, continuing an addiction to obstruction of President Obama’s nominees.

There is no doubt that Tom Perez is a highly qualified, dedicated nominee to serve as Secretary of Labor. He has spent his professional career in public service, committed to ensuring a fairer and more just society for all Americans. Alliance for Justice strongly endorses Assistant Attorney General Perez’s nomination as Secretary of Labor, and we hope for his swift confirmation.

Alliance for Justice is proud to join with more than 80 other organizations in supporting this nomination.  Learn more about Tom Perez here. 

You can help get Tom Perez confirmed.  Sign our Action Alert

Why we still need the Voting Rights Act: One story sums it up

You know what the people who want to get rid of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act are saying: They claim it’s a relic from an era when America had just ended legal apartheid.  We’re past those bad old days, they say.

But the fact that you can’t put a “whites only” sign on a water fountain or impose a poll tax doesn’t mean racism is a thing of the past.

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act 
as Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders look on
LBJ Library photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto

Consider this story, told by Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and reported by The Huffington Post:

A county in Texas wanted to move its polling place from a school to a private club – a club that had a history of segregation.  But Texas is covered by the Voting Rights Act.  Under Section 5 of the act, the county had to get advance approval, known as “pre-clearance,” from either the Justice Department or a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. 

It never got that far.  As soon as the Justice Department asked for more information – the equivalent of raising a governmental eyebrow - the county withdrew the request.

It is Section 5 that now is under challenge, in a case to be heard by the Supreme Court during the current term.

"Section 5 continues to be necessary, and Section 5 is not over inclusive," Perez said. "And that is why we will continue to vigorously defend Section 5 in the Supreme Court."