Senate Republicans go after Biden judicial nominee for opposing voter suppression

Senate Republicans on Wednesday came out against President Joe Biden’s nominee for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, criticizing her support for voting rights and advocacy against the type of voter suppression tactics Republican lawmakers across the country have sought to implement.

The senators said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Myrna Pérez that she would not be able to rule impartially on voting rights issues if she were seated on the court.

Pérez is currently on leave from her role as the director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Voting Rights and Elections Project, where she analyzed and criticized voter suppression laws that have been passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures in the wake of Donald Trump’s loss of the 2020 presidential election.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took issue with Pérez’s advocacy against voter suppression laws.

“You have waged litigation campaigns and opposed voter ID laws, you have opposed voter integrity laws, you have opposed prohibitions on ballot harvesting, you have advocated for felons being able to vote,” Cruz said, calling her a “radical activist.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she didn’t believe Pérez could be neutral, tweeting, “Myrna Pérez is too busy being an activist to concentrate on being a second circuit judge,” Blackburn tweeted, sharing a video of her questioning of Pérez.

Pérez responded, “In the great genius of our Constitution, people play different roles,” according to the Hill newspaper. “Advocates zealously argue on behalf of their clients in as many forms as they can. I have had the privilege and pleasure of doing that.”

Democrats and voting rights groups responded to the Judiciary Committee Republicans as well.

“Sen. Ted Cruz claims that Myrna Pérez is a ‘radical’ activist because of her advocacy for the right to vote. Guaranteeing access to the polls is anything but radical, and we need judges with civil rights experience like Pérez on our courts,” the Alliance for Justice tweeted, urging Pérez’s confirmation.

The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund also tweeted support for Pérez, writing, “Federal judges play vital roles in preserving constitutional democracy. It’s critical that judges have a demonstrated commitment to fairness and the rule of law. Myrna Pérez has dedicated her career to strengthening and protecting voting rights and our democracy.”

Senate Democrats are taking advantage of their slim majority in the chamber to prioritize the confirmation of Biden’s judicial nominees.

The pace at which they are confirming his court picks is faster than any president in the last 50 years, according to a report by CBS affiliate WUSA9 in Washington, D.C. To date, seven of Biden’s judicial nominees have been confirmed, more than the two judges Trump had confirmed at this same point in his term.

Republicans have yet to block one of Biden’s judicial nominees — who have been far more diverse than Trump’s picks.

If Pérez is confirmed, she’ll be the only Latina to serve on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, and the first since then-Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.