April Perry’s historic nomination as first female Chicago US attorney advanced by Senate Judiciary Committee on party-line vote

On a largely party-line vote, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of April Perry to be the next U.S. attorney in Chicago, marking a crucial step to becoming the first-ever woman to hold the high-profile position.

Perry’s selection, which was announced by President Joe Biden three months ago, was among a dozen federal nominations to be considered at an executive meeting of the Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.

Durbin began the hearing by saying that the junior senator from Ohio, Republican J.D. Vance, had announced his intention to block Perry’s nomination as part of his ongoing protest of the indictment of former President Donald Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.

“If (Attorney General) Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt,” Vance said in a statement earlier this year.

Vance does not sit on the Judiciary Committee, so any influence he has would come during a debate on nominees before the full Senate.

Durbin noted Thursday that leaving U.S. attorney posts vacant has real implications on the Justice Department’s ability to prosecute violent drug cartels and other important work that “keeps us safe.”

“Find another way to protest,” Durbin said.

The committee then voted 12-9 to advance Perry’s nomination for a full Senate vote, a process that could take several more weeks.

In a written statement after the vote, Durbin and fellow Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, also a Democrat, said they were “pleased” with the vote for Perry, who “brings strong qualifications and a wealth of experience from her time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and in the private sector to the position.”

“While we would hope for quick consideration of Ms. Perry’s nomination by the full Senate, one Republican Senator continues to hold up Department of Justice nominees, including critical federal law enforcement officers — who prosecute violent crime, terrorism, and crimes against children — from being quickly confirmed,” the statement read. “If the Republican Party was really the party of ‘law and order,’ they would release their holds and allow these law enforcement officers to be confirmed without delay.”

A spokesperson for Vance was not immediately available for comment.

Perry, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, was one of two finalists for the position announced earlier this year by Durbin and Duckworth after a screening process that began when then-U.S. Attorney John Lausch announced his plan to step down.

If confirmed, Perry would be the first woman to hold the position of Chicago’s top federal prosecutor.

Perry is currently the senior counsel for global investigations and fraud and abuse prevention at Chicago-based GE HealthCare. Previously, she worked for 12 years as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, and for a time was a coordinator for various programs that concentrated on violence against women, hate crimes and civil rights.

While with the U.S. attorney’s office, she prosecuted television pitchman Kevin Trudeau on allegations that he made deceptive TV commercials, a crime that led to a 10-year federal prison sentence for Trudeau.

Perry left the U.S. attorney’s office to work as chief ethics officer for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. She left the office while Foxx’s administration was under scrutiny for abruptly dismissing charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

A special prosecutor later took up the case, and Smollett was found guilty of filing a false police report for falsely reporting to be a victim of a hate crime.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago is one of the busiest in the nation, handling everything from terrorism, gang conspiracies and bank robberies to financial fraud and political corruption. The office has more than 300 employees, including about 130 prosecutors and more than two dozen attorneys who focus on civil litigation.

In addition to her law practice, Perry has also served as a hearing officer for the Chicago Police Board, a panel that decides whether Chicago cops should be fired for disciplinary infractions.

She received a bachelor’s and law degrees from Northwestern University.

Lausch left the U.S. attorney’s office March 11 after more than five years at the helm of some of the city’s highest-profile investigations, including racketeering probes of ex-Ald. Edward Burke and former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com