Pillard served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Assistant to the United States Solicitor General. At the time of her confirmation to the federal bench,Pillard was among the most prominent U.S. Supreme Court advocates in the United States,having argued nine cases and briefed more than 25 cases before the Court.
Pillard's nomination to the D.C. Circuit,along with the nominations of Robert L. Wilkins and Patricia Millett,ultimately became central to the debate over the use of the filibuster in the United States Senate,leading to the controversial use of the nuclear option to bring it to the floor for a vote. She was confirmed by a 51–44 vote,with her detractors labeling her as one of the most liberal nominees to the federal bench in decades.[1] Pillard has been compared to Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her civil rights advocacy,and has been mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee.[2]
In 1994,Pillard joined the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States,where she briefed and argued civil and criminal cases on behalf of the federal government before the U.S. Supreme Court.[4] She joined the tenure-track faculty at Georgetown Law in 1997.[4]
In 1998,Pillard was named Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel.[4] That office provides authoritative legal advice to the President and all the Executive Branch agencies,including review of all executive orders and orders of the Attorney General.[6]
Pillard returned to Georgetown Law in 2000,where she received tenure.[4] Pillard has taught more than a dozen different courses and seminars,and frequently teaches the core civil procedure and constitutional law courses.[4][7] Pillard also served as faculty director of Georgetown Law's Supreme Court Institute,a public service program that provides free assistance to attorneys preparing for arguments before the Supreme Court on a first-come,first-served basis.[8] In the 2012 term,the program held moot courts for counsel in 100% of cases argued before the Court.[8]
Boards and committees
Pillard supports fair and efficient private settlement of legal disputes through negotiation,mediation and arbitration. She serves on the Executive Committee of the board of directors of the American Arbitration Association,and has been a board member there since 2005.[9]
Pillard served as Chair and an active reader on an American Bar Association Reading Committee that evaluated all of the writings of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito for the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. The committee found Alito "well qualified" to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.[10]
Supreme Court practice
Pillard has argued nine cases and briefed more than twenty-five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court,making her one of the nation's most prominent Supreme Court advocates.[4][11] Some of her landmark victories are now staples of law school textbooks.[12]
In the landmark case United States v. Virginia,Pillard wrote the Solicitor General's brief challenging the men-only admissions policy of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).[13] In a 7-1 decision,the Court held that VMI's exclusion of women violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution,and that the new,separate and different Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership did not remedy the violation.
While a member of the Georgetown Law faculty,Pillard successfully defended the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) against constitutional challenge in another landmark case,Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs.[14] Pillard represented William Hibbs,a state employee who was fired when he sought to take unpaid leave to care for his injured wife under the FMLA. Pillard,together with the United States Justice Department during the administration of President George W. Bush,which intervened to defend the law,argued that state employees should be able to rely on the FMLA. In a decision by then-Chief Justice Rehnquist,the Court ruled for Hibbs and upheld the FMLA's application to state employees as a valid exercise of Congress' constitutional powers.
Representing the United States in Ornelas v. United States,Pillard won a significant victory for law enforcement,leading to clearer legal guidance to federal,state,and local officials conducting searches and seizures.[15] In an opinion by then-Chief Justice Rehnquist,the Court held that independent review of probable cause determinations by appellate courts was necessary to ensure the development and consistent application of search and seizure rules.
In other noteworthy cases representing the United States,Pillard sought robust "qualified immunity" protection of law enforcement personnel against lawsuits,shielding officials from the burdens of litigation and liability for reasonable decisions even where,in hindsight,they turned out to be wrong.[16] She also successfully argued that the U.S. Constitution reserves the jury right in criminal cases to defendants charged with serious offenses.[17]
Federal judicial service
President Barack Obama nominates Pillard (center) and two others for the D.C. Circuit Court
On November 7,2013,Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved to invoke cloture on Pillard's nomination,in an attempt to cut off a filibuster from Republican senators.[21] On November 12,2013,the Senate rejected the motion to invoke cloture by a 56–41 vote,with 1 senator voted "present".[22] According to ThinkProgress,conservatives attacked her as an extremist and radical feminist,noting that a paper she had authored analogized compelled maternity to "conscription,"[23] in objecting to her confirmation.[24]
After the Senate moved forward in November 2013 with a rules change eliminating the filibuster on federal appeals court nominees,the Senate on December 10,2013,invoked cloture on Pillard’s nomination by a 56–42 vote.[25] That paved the way for a final floor vote on Pillard's nomination. Shortly before 1 a.m. on December 12,2013,the Senate confirmed Pillard by a 51–44 vote.[26][27] On December 17,2013,Pillard received her federal judicial commission.[28]
Barbara Louise Milano Keenan is a senior United States circuit judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Adalberto Jose Jordan is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law,his alma mater,and at Florida International University's College of Law. In February 2016,The New York Times identified Jordan as a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. In early March,Jordan removed himself from consideration.
Patricia Ann Millett is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She formerly headed the Supreme Court practice at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &Feld. Millett also was a longtime former assistant to the United States Solicitor General and served as an occasional blogger for SCOTUSblog. At the time of her confirmation to the D.C. Circuit,she had argued 32 cases before the United States Supreme Court. In February 2016 The New York Times identified her as a potential nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
Nancy Louise Moritz is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and former justice of the Kansas Supreme Court.
Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson is an American lawyer and jurist who is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on February 25,2022,and confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn into office that same year. She is the first black woman and the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. From 2021 to 2022,Jackson was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Lucy Haeran Koh is an American lawyer serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Koh previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 2010 to 2021. She also served as a California state court judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court from 2008 to 2010. She is the first Korean American woman to serve on a federal appellate court in the United States.
U.S. President Barack Obama nominated over 400 individuals for federal judgeships during his presidency. Of these nominations,Congress confirmed 329 judgeships,173 during the 111th &112th Congresses and 156 during the 113th and 114th Congresses.
Caitlin Joan Halligan is an American lawyer who has served as an associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals since April 2023. She served as Solicitor General of New York from 2001 until 2007. President Barack Obama nominated her several times to fill a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,but the U.S. Senate did not vote directly on the nomination,and in March 2013,Obama withdrew the nomination at her request.
Robert Leon Wilkins is an American lawyer and jurist serving as United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He previously served as a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 2010 to 2014.
Alison Julie Nathan is an American lawyer who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 2022. She served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2011 to 2022. She previously served as associate White House counsel for President Barack Obama.
Paul Jeffrey Watford is an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2012 to 2023. In 2016,The New York Times identified Watford as a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Watford resigned his judgeship in 2023 and became a partner at the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich &Rosati.
Jill Anne Pryor is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor was born in Harrisburg,Pennsylvania.
John Byron Owens is an American judge and lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
David Jeremiah Barron is an American lawyer who serves as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and former S. William Green Professor of Public Law at Harvard Law School. He previously served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel at the United States Department of Justice.
Salvador Mendoza Jr. is an American lawyer serving as United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington from 2014 to 2022 and as a Washington state court judge from 2002 to 2014.
Randolph Daniel Moss is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Pamela Ann Harris is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Prior to joining the federal bench,she was an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School,and visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and executive director of its Supreme Court Institute.
Florence Yu Pan is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 2021 to 2022 and a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 2009 to 2021.
Britt Cagle Grant is an American attorney and judge who is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Sarah Elizabeth Martin Pitlyk is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
↑ See Statement of Stephen L. Tober concerning the Nomination of Honorable Samuel L. Alito to be Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court before the Senate Judiciary Committee (Jan. 12, 2006)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
