Alison Nathan

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Alison Nathan
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Assumed office
October 17, 2011
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded bySidney H. Stein
Personal details
Born
Alison Julie Nathan

June 1972 (age 49)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Spouse(s)Meg Satterthwaite
Children2
EducationCornell University (B.A.)
Cornell Law School (J.D.)

Alison Julie Nathan (born June 18, 1972) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who also served as Associate White House Counsel for Barack Obama.

Early life and education[]

Born in Philadelphia, Nathan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994 from Cornell University and then earned a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Cornell Law School in 2000.[1] At Cornell, she was a member of the Quill and Dagger society and editor-in-chief of the Cornell Law Review.[2]

After law school, Nathan clerked for Judge Betty Binns Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit[3] and then for Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. After her federal service ended at SCOTUS, Nathan moved to private practice with Wilmer Cutler & Pickering in 2002.[3]

In a New York Times obituary of Judge Deborah Batts, Nathan remembered Batts as an inspiration.[4] Nathan also wrote in a tribute to Justice John Paul Stevens that "When I review work from my law clerks, I will often leave a supportive note like the ones he left me and my co-clerks: 'Nice job. Just a few fly specks.'"[5]

Professional career[]

President Barack Obama greets his departing Associate Counsel Alison Nathan (left), Meg Satterthwaite, and their twin sons in the Outer Oval Office, July 7, 2010.

From 2000 until 2001, Nathan served as a law clerk for U.S. 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 U.S. Supreme Court.[1] 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.[1]

During the 2004 campaign season, she acted as John Kerry's Associate National Counsel for the Kerry-Edwards Democrat Campaign for President.[6] From 2006 until 2008, Nathan served as a visiting associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law. Nathan also served as the Fritz Alexander fellow, New York University School of Law, from 2008 until 2009.,[7][1] Her academic focus is on "civil procedure and death penalty jurisprudence".[6]

From 2009 until 2010, for about 18 months,[8] Nathan served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and also as Associate White House Counsel.[1] Since 2010 until her appointment as a United States District Judge, Nathan worked in the office of the Attorney General of New York as a special counsel to the state's Solicitor General.[1][2]

In 2016, Nathan was a guest judge for the Harvard Law School Ames Moot Court Competition.[5]

Federal judicial service[]

Before Nathan's appointment to the federal bench in 2008, she served as associate White House Counsel for the Obama Administration, before assisting the state attorney general's office and New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood.

On March 31, 2011, President Obama nominated Nathan to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to replace Judge Sidney H. Stein, who took senior status in 2010.[1][9] The United States Senate confirmed Nathan in a 48–44 vote on October 13, 2011.[10] She received her judicial commission on October 17, 2011.[2] Nathan is recorded as the second openly gay jurist on the federal bench, after Deborah Batts.[11]

Since her appointment in 2013, Nathan has been an advocate for changes to the clerkship system under what has been known as the Law Clerk Hiring Plan.[12][13]

It has been speculated that Nathan or fellow judge Pamela K. Chen could be appointed to a vacancy on the Second Circuit.[14] If nominated and confirmed to the Second Circuit, Nathan or Chen would be the first LGBTQ+ woman to serve as an appellate judge in the United States federal court system.[15][16]

Notable cases[]

In 2014, Nathan banned Aereo from streaming live TV to devices.[17]

In 2016, Nathan officiated the wedding of Judge J. Paul Oetken on September 6, 2014 at Jane Hotel in Manhattan.[18]

In April 2020, Nathan came out against prisoner practices that put early released inmates into special COVID-19 quarantines which defied inmates' court approved early release, and the law, saying the policies were "illogical" and "Kafkaesque".[19]

In July and December 2020, Nathan presided over the bail hearings for Ghislaine Maxwell in a case related to Jeffrey Epstein.[20]

Personal life[]

Nathan was raised in northwest suburban Philadelphia.[3] Her parents both were university graduates. While at university, Nathan studied philosophy and Japanese.[3] After her graduation from Cornell, Nathan taught English in Japan and Thailand, as well as working for a short time at a newspaper.

Nathan and her wife, New York University School of Law Professor Meg Satterthwaite,[21] are parents to twin sons.[22]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (March 31, 2011). "President Obama Names Alison J. Nathan as Nominee for the United States District Court". whitehouse.gov. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2011 – via National Archives.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Nathan, Alison Julie – Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "A Modern Judicial Role Model: Judge Alison Nathan - Law360". www.law360.com.
  4. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q.; Weiser, Benjamin (February 5, 2020). "Deborah A. Batts, First Openly Gay Federal Judge, Dies at 72" – via NYTimes.com.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Memoriam: Justice John Paul Stevens". harvardlawreview.org.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Alison J. Nathan - Overview | NYU School of Law". its.law.nyu.edu.
  7. ^ "Nathan, Alison Julie". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  8. ^ "SDNY Nominee Alison J. Nathan". June 7, 2011.
  9. ^ The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (March 31, 2011). "Nominations Sent to the Senate, 3/31/11". whitehouse.gov. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2011 – via National Archives.
  10. ^ http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/112thCongress.cfm[dead link]
  11. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q.; Weiser, Benjamin (February 5, 2020). "Deborah A. Batts, First Openly Gay Federal Judge, Dies at 72". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  12. ^ Lat, David (May 28, 2013). "What's the Latest News in Law Clerk Hiring?". abovethelaw.com. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  13. ^ http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/cases/show.php?db=judge_info&id=739[dead link]
  14. ^ Alder, Madison. "Biden Can Flip Second Circuit After Judge Hall Goes Senior (1)". Bloomberg Law. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  15. ^ Lesh, Eric. "Obama Appoints Record Number of Gay Judges, but Senate Obstruction Persists". Lambda Legal: Making the Case for Equality. Lambda Legal. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  16. ^ Todd, Ross. "SoCal Prosecutor Patrick Bumatay Confirmed to Ninth Circuit Seat". Law.com: The Recorder. ALM Media Properties, LLC. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  17. ^ "Aereo Injunction Memo – Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act – Copyright Law Of The United States". Scribd. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  18. ^ "Makky Pratayot, J. Paul Oetken". The New York Time. September 7, 2014.
  19. ^ Smith, Sean (June 23, 2020). "COVID-19 in Prison: Week by Week — Part 6". crimestory.com. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  20. ^ "Ghislaine Maxwell Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors". United States Department of Justice. July 2, 2020. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  21. ^ Lin, Laurie (November 12, 2014). "Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Left Out". abovethelaw.com. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  22. ^ Geidner, Chris (March 31, 2011). "Alison Nathan, Former Obama White House Associate Counsel, Nominated for Federal Court". Metro Weekly. Archived from the original on April 16, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.

External links[]

Legal offices
Preceded by
Sidney H. Stein 		Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
2011–present 		Incumbent
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