Nina Perales

Nina Perales is vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, supervising the legal staff and litigation docket throughout the United States. With MALDEF since 1996, she successfully argued the first US Supreme Court case ruling in favor of a Latino vote dilution claim under the Voting Rights Act. Perales also secured Supreme Court rulings striking down racial gerrymandering of Latinos in Texas and restrictions on voter registration in Arizona. Specializing in immigrants’ rights litigation, she led the defense of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) in a multistate challenge to that initiative. Perales has appeared on the “Rachel Maddow Show,” C-SPAN, and “PBS NewsHour.”