The American Spectator

Let me go against the grain today and agree with Quin Hillyer on something — not his take on the History Channel doc The Bible (I gave up TV for Lent), but his column on Thomas Perez’s nomination to the Labor Department.

From his perch at the DOJ, Perez, an activist lawyer if ever there was one, took discrimination and disparate impact lawsuits to new and abusive levels. Among his targets were an Oklahoma sheriff’s office that was assigning pregnant female corrections officers to desk duty, a 16-unit apartment building that was advertising a 21-and-over age policy, and universities using Kindle e-readers which supposedly discriminate against the blind. That last one deserves particular scorn (don’t paperbacks do the same thing?), but that’s Perez for you. He’d sue the English language if he could.

Perez’s nomination shows President Obama wants to bring his brand of victimological bullying to the DOL’s fight for workplace rules and labor unions. Quin is right: this can’t be allowed to happen. It’s common courtesy for the Senate to give the president wide deference with his Cabinet nominees. But stopping Perez is worth every tooth and nail of a fight. Republicans should stand united against him.

For more, read my column on Perez from 2010 here.