Alison Nathan

Alison Julie Nathan (born June 18, 1972) is a US Attorney, Professor, and is current 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.

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 48)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
EducationCornell University (B.A.)
Cornell Law School (J.D.)

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, Judge Nathan clerked for the Ninth Circuit with Judge Betty Binns Fletcher[3], eventually, clerking for Justice John Paul Stevens. After her federal service ended at SCOTUS, Judge Nathan moved to private practice with Wilmer Cutler & Pickering in 2002.[4]

In a New York Times Obituary of Judge Deborah Batts, Judge Nathan remembered Judge Batts as an inspiration.[5] Judge 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.”″[6]

Professional career
President Barack Obama greets departing Associate Counsel to the President Alison J. "Ali" Nathan, left, Meg Satterthwaite, and their twin sons Oliver and Nathan, 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.[7] From 2006 until 2008, Nathan served as a visiting associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law. Judge Nathan also served as the Fritz Alexander fellow, New York University School of Law, from 2008 until 2009.[8],[1] Her academic focus is on ″ civil procedure and death penalty jurisprudence″.[9]

From 2009 until 2010, for about 18 months[10], 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, Judge Nathan was a guest judge for the Harvard Law School Ames Moot Court Competition.[11]

Federal judicial service

Before Judge 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][12] The United States Senate confirmed Nathan in a 48–44 vote on October 13, 2011.[13] She received her judicial commission on October 17, 2011.[2] Judge Nathan is recorded as the second openly gay jurist on the federal bench, after Judge Deborah A. Batts.[14]

Since her appointment, in 2013, Judge Nathan was reported to be an advocate for changes to the clerkship system under what has been known as the ″Law Clerk Hiring Plan.″[15][16]

Notable cases

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

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

In April of 2020, Judge Nathan came out against prisoner practices that put early released inmates into special COVID19 quarantines which defied inmates' court approved early release, and the law, saying the policies were ″“illogical” and “Kafkaesque.”″.[18]

In July of 2020, Judge Nathan presided over the bail hearing for Ghislaine Maxwell in a case related to the late convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein.[19]

Personal life

Judge Nathan was raised in northwest suburban Philadelphia.[20] Her parents both were graduates of university, and instilled the same academic life in Judge Nathan. While at university herself, Judge Nathan studied philosophy and Japanese.[21] After her graduation from Cornell, Judge Nathan taught English in Japan and Thailand, as well as working for a short time at a newspaper.

Nathan and her wife,[22] New York University School of Law Associate Professor of Clinical Law, Margaret (Meg) Satterthwaite, are parents to twin sons.[23]

See also

References
  1. 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 18 April 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
  2. "Nathan, Alison Julie – Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  3. http://archive.is/BrTql
  4. https://www.law360.com/articles/582080/a-modern-judicial-role-model-judge-alison-nathan
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/nyregion/deborah-batts-dead.html
  6. https://harvardlawreview.org/2020/01/memoriam-justice-john-paul-stevens/
  7. https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=31082
  8. https://www.fjc.gov/node/1393801
  9. https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=31082
  10. https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/sdny-nominee-alison-j-nathan-ed-whelan/
  11. https://harvardlawreview.org/2020/01/memoriam-justice-john-paul-stevens/
  12. 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 18 April 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
  13. http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/112thCongress.cfm
  14. Seelye, Katharine Q.; Weiser, Benjamin (2020-02-05). "Deborah A. Batts, First Openly Gay Federal Judge, Dies at 72". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  15. https://abovethelaw.com/2013/05/whats-the-latest-news-in-law-clerk-hiring/
  16. http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/cases/show.php?db=judge_info&id=739
  17. "Aereo Injunction Memo – Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act – Copyright Law Of The United States". Scribd.
  18. https://crimestory.com/2020/06/23/covid-19-in-prison-week-by-week-part-6/
  19. "Ghislaine Maxwell Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors". US Department of Justice.
  20. https://www.law360.com/articles/582080/a-modern-judicial-role-model-judge-alison-nathan
  21. https://www.law360.com/articles/582080/a-modern-judicial-role-model-judge-alison-nathan
  22. https://abovethelaw.com/2014/11/legal-eagle-wedding-watch-left-out/
  23. Geidner, Chris (March 31, 2011). "Alison Nathan, Former Obama White House Associate Counsel, Nominated for Federal Court". Metro Weekly. Archived from the original on 2011-04-16. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
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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