He said that Perez and Eric H. Holder, the nation's first black attorney general, a former civil rights lawyer, are "kindred spirits." Holder has promised to oversee "vigorous enforcement" of civil rights and recently said that rebuilding the civil rights division is "priority one right now."
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, where the confirmation hearing will take place, said Perez would have "a real challenge ahead of him" in running the division "because of the way the Justice Department was operating."
"They had a hard time maintaining and attracting people dedicated to enforcing civil rights," Cardin said.
Obama has promised to "rid the department of ideologues and political cronies" and replace them with lawyers who "prosecute civil rights violations and employment discrimination and hate crimes."
But Cardin and former Justice Department officials played down the idea that Perez could weed out Bush-era attorneys who hold career positions and have civil-service protection.
"Hopefully, they can be trained and turned into good lawyers," said Joseph D. Rich, a former head of the voting rights section who left the Justice Department in 2005 after more than 35 years.
In interviews, present and former lawyers at the Justice Department and on Capitol Hill said that, under Obama, the civil rights division will step up prosecutions of police misconduct and racial profiling.
The administration might give the division added responsibilities by promoting legislation to make voter registration laws more uniform and make it easier for people to vote.
Other areas that could get renewed attention include conditions in prisons, mental health facilities and nursing homes, the last of which could mesh with Perez's work as a University of Maryland law professor on the relationship between health care and civil rights.
