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The appointment of Thomas E. Perez to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is facing opposition from an anti-gambling group because of the role he played in legalizing slot machines in Maryland.

"State-sponsored predatory gambling, the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit, blatantly violates the principle of equal citizenship," reads a letter from Stop Predatory Gambling, a Washington-based organization that opposes government efforts to pay for services through gambling.

"We are creating addicted, out-of-control gamblers in order to provide a small number of schemers an obscene level of unearned power and wealth, all in the name of getting someone else to pay our taxes."

Perez, who is the secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, wrote a 19-page report in August 2007 that provided the foundation for the subsequent passage of legislation bringing the issue of the legalization of gambling to voters.

Perez will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The Stop Predatory Gambling letter was signed by 18 people, including Aaron Meisner, chairman of Stop Slots Maryland.

The organization will not testify against Perez, said Les Bernal, the group's executive director.

"It gets down to the question if you're going to be the leading advocate for civil rights in America, how does that square with your role as an advocate for state-sponsored predatory gambling," he said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has more than 30 letters of support for Perez that cross the ideological divide. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is supporting his nomination, as is House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has offered his support, as has John Kane, the former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party.