Friday 14 October 2011

Gay woman confirmed as USA federal judge in New York - The Washington Post

Alison Nathan, who has served as an adviser to President Barack Obama, is the third openly gay person confirmed to the federal bench. The Senate approved Nathan’s nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by a 48-44 vote Thursday.
Republicans said they opposed Nathan’s confirmation because she indicated in a book that judges should consider foreign law in rulings. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said Nathan’s record indicates she has an “activist viewpoint.”
In 2009, Nathan worked in the president’s Office of Special Counsel. Last year, she moved to the New York solicitor general’s office.
From 2000 until 2001, Nathan served as a law clerk for United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Judge Betty Binns Fletcher. From 2001 until 2002, Nathan served as a law clerk for Associate Justice John Paul Stevens on the United States Supreme Court.

From 2002 until 2006, Nathan served as an associate in the New York and Washington, D.C. offices of the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

From 2006 until 2008, Nathan served as a visiting associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law. From 2008 until 2009, Nathan served as a fellow at New York University School of Law.
From 2009 until 2010, Nathan served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and also as Associate White House Counsel.

Since 2010, Nathan has worked in the office of the Attorney General of New York as a special counsel to the state's Solicitor General.

Nathan and her partner, New York University School of Law Associate Professor of Clinical Law, Margaret (Meg) Satterthwaite, are parents to twin sons

Nathan is the third openly gay person confirmed as federal judge, following judge Deborah Batts, who was appointed during the Clinton administration in 1994, and Paul Oetken (confirmed in July 2011).

Two gay men, Edward Dumont and Michael Fitzgerald, have also been nominated by the Obama administration, but have not yet been confirmed.

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