Nina Perales

Nina Perales is Vice President of Litigation for MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In that role, Ms. Perales oversees MALDEF’s litigation and supervises the legal staff in offices across the United States. She also litigates cases on the MALDEF docket, including the defense of DACA in a multi-state challenge that seeks to end the program.

Ms. Perales is best known for her work in voting rights. She tried, and argued successfully before the U.S. Supreme Court, LULAC v. Perry, the first case in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Latino vote dilution claim under the Voting Rights Act. She has also secured favorable U.S. Supreme Court rulings in challenges to an Arizona voter registration law in 2013 and Texas redistricting in 2018. Ms. Perales has presented more than twelve oral arguments in the U.S. Courts of Appeals. She has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and state legislatures on voting rights.

Ms. Perales received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and law degree from Columbia University School of Law.