A year after Lausch’s departure, Chicago’s next U.S. attorney still in limbo
One year after Chicago U.S. Attorney John Lausch stepped down, the caustic political landscape in Washington has left the high-profile position in limbo with little sign of the logjam breaking anytime soon.
April Perry, a former federal prosecutor, was nominated by President Joe Biden to succeed Lausch as the first woman to ever hold the office. And though Perry was confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, she’s still no closer to assuming the role six months later.
That’s because of a blanket hold put on all U.S. attorney nominees by Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, of Ohio, who has said he’s holding up final votes on the Senate floor to protest the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal investigations of former President Donald Trump.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has repeatedly called on Vance to end his unprecedented blockade, which Durbin says goes against decades of Senate tradition to confirm such nominees on a bipartisan basis by unanimous consent.
Last week, a frustrated Durbin again called out Vance during a hearing to approve several other nominees, including Rebecca Lutzko, whose appointment as U.S. attorney in Ohio is also being held up by Vance, her home senator.
Before Wednesday’s vote on Lutzko’s nomination, which passed the Judiciary Committee 14-7, Durbin said the last time the Senate had required a full roll call vote on a U.S. attorney nominee was 1975, and added that all of Trump’s selections had been approved by a voice vote.
“We have to stop and ask ourselves ‘What kind of a Senate are we creating here if we’re going to have just more and more excuses to do nothing?'” Durbin said. “I’m afraid it’s going to add to the frustration that many of us feel. So please, when you’re talking about putting holds on people like U.S. attorneys … let’s reflect on the fact that the integrity of this process is at issue.”
Vance has held firm even though, as Durbin has often pointed out, he has campaigned on a strong law-and-order platform. In remarks on the Senate floor last September, Vance agreed his hold policy put the Senate in a “unique circumstance,” but said the political times were also unique.
“Trump never tried to throw his political opponents in prison,” Vance said. “This is crazy banana republic stuff and I will not stand for it. I will continue to hold these nominations. I will continue to push back against the politicization of justice.”
Vance also had specific criticism for Perry and her previous role as chief ethics officer for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx “during the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax.”
In his Senate speech, Vance said, without offering any evidence, that Perry had “rubber stamped” unethical decisions made by Foxx’s office during the Smollett scandal.
“Is this the sort of person who could be trusted to impartially administer justice in the Biden-Garland Department of Justice?” Vance said. “I don’t think that she is.”
A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment.
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.
Lausch was nominated by Trump in 2017 and held the post during the early portion of the Biden administration due to a bipartisan call to keep him on as a series of high-profile Illinois political corruption investigations continued to unfold.
Lausch officially stepped down March 11, 2023, days before the “ComEd Four” case alleging a scheme by the utility giant to bribe Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan went to trial.
For the past year, the office has been overseen by acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual. His office had no comment Friday.
Perry’s selection as a successor was announced by Biden in June 2023. When Perry was approved by the Judiciary Committee three months later, Durbin noted 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 at the time.
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.
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 her law degree from Northwestern University.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com