Nan Aron
American lawyer (born 1948)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nan Aron (born January 4, 1948) is an American lawyer[3] and the founder and president emeritus of Alliance for Justice (AFJ), a liberal judicial advocacy group in the United States.[4][5][6] Staunchly progressive, Aron has been a noted opponent of conservative judicial nominees in the United States.[7][8] She repeatedly called for former Presidents Bill Clinton[4] and Barack Obama to be more aggressive in nominating progressives to the bench,[9] and during George W. Bush's presidency, urged the Democrat-controlled Senate to consider Bush's nominees closely.[4][10] She is considered a key player in confirmation hearings for judicial nominees,[4] and, in 2005, was called "the Madame Defarge of liberal court watchers" in the Wall Street Journal.[7][11]
Case Western Reserve University (JD)
Nan Aron | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | January 4, 1948[1][2] New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Oberlin College (BA) Case Western Reserve University (JD) |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Career
Aron received her B.A. in sociology and Chinese from Oberlin College and her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.[11][12] Prior to founding Alliance for Justice, Aron worked as a staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project.[11][12][13] Aron went on to serve as a trial attorney for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,[11] where she litigated race and sex discrimination cases against companies and unions in federal and district courts. In 1979, Aron founded the Alliance for Justice,[11] and began investigating judicial nominees during Ronald Reagan's presidency.[4] She established the Alliance's Judicial Selection Project in 1985.[7]
Aron has taught at Georgetown and George Washington University Law Schools, and serves on the Dean's Advisory Council at American University's Washington College of Law.[14]
Aron authored Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond in 1989,[15][16] which the Harvard Law Review said was "[s]ure to evoke a new pledge of allegiance to public interest law",[17] as well as Justice in the Making—A Citizen's Guide in 1993 with Alliance for Justice.[14]
Aron referenced overcoming the dual challenges of being a woman and a Jew in the State Department in 2004.[12]
