Nina Perales has been a civil rights attorney in Texas for 26 years, during which she has litigated two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases against the state’s efforts to disenfranchise Latino voters through redistricting. She currently oversees several voting-rights lawsuits across the nation, challenging voter suppression as vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a nonprofit founded in San Antonio in 1968.
MALDEF recently filed two challenges against the state’s new gerrymandered electoral maps, which were redrawn last year, and against Senate Bill 1—the omnibus anti-voting law that caused headaches during early voting in February. In the suits, MALDEF is alleging dicrimination against constitutionally protected classes, including Latinos and disabled voters. Perales, who moved to Texas from the East Coast in the mid-1990s, is no stranger to the tricks that state lawmakers use to dilute the voting power of the fast-growing, non-white electorate. The Observer spoke with her about her career, the threat against voting rights in Texas, and the power of the law to protect access to the ballot.
