WASHINGTON - -Maryland Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez easily won Senate confirmation Tuesday as the new head of the civil rights division at the Justice Department.
The bipartisan tally was 72-22, with both of Maryland's Democratic senators voting in favor. All of the negative votes were cast by Republicans.
Perez, a former staff attorney in the division, called his new post "a dream job. And there's a lot of work to be done."
The one-time University of Maryland law professor, whose last day in state government will be Wednesday, expressed gratitude that nearly half the Republican senators who voted had supported his nomination.
It "sends a very strong signal from the Senate that we want to return to a very proud era of bipartisan and nonpartisan" civil rights enforcement, he said in a telephone interview.
Perez's confirmation was never in serious doubt, but Republicans had used procedural tactics to delay it for more than four months.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, had accused Republicans of "posturing for narrow special interests" in stalling votes on Perez and four other assistant attorneys general chosen by President Barack Obama. "Is there such resentment that President Obama won the election?" Leahy asked.
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, one of two Republicans who had blocked the vote, warned of "a disaster for the future of this country" if Perez carried out his intentions to enforce federal regulations requiring interpreters for non-English speakers at hospitals and other medical facilities.
Coburn also attacked what he described as Perez's "extreme views" on English-only laws. Perez said states are free to enact them, so long as they do not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions said he opposed Perez out of a concern that the Harvard-educated lawyer, who once said that he was "a progressive Democrat ... and always will be," would be guided by partisanship in his new job.
Sessions said he also feared that Perez, a son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic and the highest-ranking Latino in Maryland government, shared the "extreme views" of Casa de Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group whose board he once led. Sessions, the senior Republican on the judiciary panel, said Casa had issued a pamphlet that instructed people to remain silent when confronted by police.
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, said Perez's record in 10 years as a Justice Department lawyer demonstrated his commitment to enforcing the law. He said Perez would get the civil rights division "back on track" after Bush-era abuses that cast doubt on its independence.
