Victoria F. Nourse

Last updated
Official Portrait of Vice Chair Nourse, United States Commission on Civil Rights Nourse Victoria-GRAY.jpg
Official Portrait of Vice Chair Nourse, United States Commission on Civil Rights

Victoria Frances Nourse (born November 9, 1958) is the Ralph V. Whitworth Professor of Law [1] at Georgetown University Law Center and the executive director of its Center on Congressional Studies. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights as an appointee of President Joe Biden. She previously served as General Counsel to the Vice President under the Obama Administration. A nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, her nomination was returned to the president on December 17, 2011, after the Senate adjourned for more than 30 days. [2]

Contents

Nourse has published extensively on Congress, the separation of powers and statutory interpretation. She regularly appears as a legal expert on media outlets such as CNN, PBS and NPR, providing interpretation of national judicial and political developments. [3] [4] [5] Her recent scholarship and public commentary have centered on the trials and impeachments of Donald Trump, the Supreme Court, and current challenges facing American Democracy.

Early Life and Education

Nourse was born in Dunedin, Florida, grew up in Marblehead Massachusetts, and received her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University Phi Beta Kappa in 1980 and later received a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1984, where she was named to the Order of the Coif. [6]

Career

Early Career

After graduating from law school at UC Berkeley, Nourse clerked for Edward Weinfeld of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1984 and 1985. From 1985 to 1988, she worked in for the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. In 1987 she worked as an assistant counsel on the United States Senate Committee to Investigate the Iran-Contra Affair. [7]

From 1988 to 1990, Nourse was an appellate attorney with the United States Department of Justice working in the civil division. From 1990 to 1993, she worked as counsel and special counsel for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and played a key role in drafting the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) under the leadership of then-Senator Joe Biden. Despite Senator Biden's public recognition of Nourse's contribution, national controversy was generated when he subsequently claimed to have authored the Act. [8]

Nourse's historic battle to uphold VAWA has been extensively documented in the media and books such as "Equal: Women Reshape American Law" by Fred Strebeigh. [9] The book included Nourse alongside Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a woman who had a history-changing effect on the law. [10]

Academic Career

From 1996 to 1997, Nourse was a visiting professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law. From 1997 to 2002, Nourse was an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. During the fall semester of 2002, she was a visiting professor of law at Yale Law School and taught law at New York University School of Law in the spring of 2003. Nourse returned to the University of Wisconsin Law School from 2005 until 2008 as the Burrus-Bascom Professor. From 2008 to 2010, Nourse was the LQC Lamar Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. [7]

In February 2019, Nourse was installed as the inaugural Ralph V. Whitworth Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Consideration for the Seventh Circuit

On January 22, 2010, United States Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold forwarded four names to the Obama White House for consideration to fill the vacancy on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals created when Judge Terence T. Evans assumed senior status. [11] Nourse was recommended along with District Court Judge Lynn Adelman, Richard Sankovitz, and Dean Strang. [11] On July 14, 2010, Obama nominated Nourse to the vacancy. Her nomination was returned to the President on December 17, 2011, pursuant to the rules of the Senate. [2]

United States Commission on Civil Rights

On March 16, 2023, Nourse was sworn in as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights for a term of six years. On July 21, 2023, pursuant to her designation by President Biden, she was installed as Vice Chair of the Commission by unanimous vote. [12] Addressing her designation as Vice Chair in April 2023, Nourse spoke of President Biden's longstanding influence on her political philosophy: "He taught me everything I know about bipartisanship... I know that we can work together. I've done it before." [13]

Personal

Nourse is married with two children. She was the daughter-in-law of United States federal judge Richard D. Cudahy. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Brown (lawyer)</span> American lawyer (born 1960)

Elizabeth Merrill "Lisa" Brown is an American lawyer who is the current General Counsel of the United States Department of Education. She previously served as the first White House Staff Secretary in the Obama administration, assuming that post on January 20, 2009. Earlier, during the 2008–2009 presidential transition, she served as Co-Chair of Agency Review. Prior to joining the Obama Transition Team, she served as Executive Director of the American Constitution Society, a progressive legal organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ketanji Brown Jackson</span> US Supreme Court justice since 2022 (born 1970)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chai Feldblum</span> American legal academic (born 1959)

Chai Rachel Feldblum is an American author and activist for disability and LGBT rights. A former law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, she served as Commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was nominated to the position on the EEOC by president Barack Obama in 2009. In April 2010, she received a recess appointment to the EEOC, and in December 2010 she was confirmed to serve on the EEOC by the United States Senate. The Senate confirmed her in December 2013 for a second term on the Commission which expired in July 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Koh</span> American judge (born 1968)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan L. Carney</span> American judge (born 1951)

Susan Laura Carney is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Nathan</span> American judge (born 1972)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine D. Kaplan</span> American judge (born 1955)

Elaine Debra Kaplan is the chief judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims. She served as General Counsel of the United States Office of Personnel Management from 2009 to 2013, and as acting director of the office in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelia Pillard</span> American federal judge (born 1961)

Cornelia Thayer Livingston Pillard, known professionally as Nina Pillard, is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2013 as a U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before becoming a judge, Pillard was a law professor at Georgetown University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia Griggsby</span> American judge (born 1968)

Lydia Kay Griggsby is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. She is a former Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims and Chief Counsel for Private and Information Policy for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Harris (judge)</span> American federal judge (born 1962)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kara Farnandez Stoll</span> American judge (born 1968)

Kara Ann Farnandez Stoll is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrell McSweeny</span>

Terrell McSweeny is an American attorney who served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission from 2014 until 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd E. Edelman</span> American judge (born 1968)

Todd Eric Edelman is an American lawyer who has served as an associate judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia since 2010. He is a former nominee to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regina M. Rodriguez</span> American judge (born 1963)

Regina Marie Rodriguez is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Y. Pan</span> American federal judge (born 1966)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Traum</span> American judge (born 1969)

Anne Rachel Traum is an American lawyer and academic who is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. She was a professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2002 and again from 2008 to 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine E. Lhamon</span> American attorney and government official (born 1971)

Catherine Elizabeth Lhamon is an American attorney and government official who is the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. She previously served in this position from 2013 to 2017. During her tenure, Lhamon instituted changes to Title IX rules that were praised by some feminist and progressive groups, but received criticism across the political spectrum as violations of due process. She was also deputy chair of the United States Domestic Policy Council for racial justice and equality from January to October 2021, and chaired the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 2016 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Remus</span> American lawyer

Dana Ann Remus is an American lawyer who served as White House counsel for U.S. President Joe Biden from January 2021 to July 2022. Prior to her appointment as White House counsel, Remus was general counsel for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Earlier in her career, she was deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel for ethics during the presidency of Barack Obama, was general counsel for the Obama Foundation from 2017 to 2019, and was counsel to Michelle Obama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn N. Lerner</span> American judge (born 1965)

Carolyn Nancy Lerner is an American lawyer who is a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trina Thompson</span> American judge (born 1961)

Trina Lynn Thompson is American judge who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She previously served as a state court judge of the Alameda County Superior Court.

References

  1. ↑ "Victoria Nourse Installed as the Inaugural Ralph V. Whitworth Professor". law.georgetown.edu. Georgetown University Law Center . Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Senate Record for December 17, 2011". Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  3. ↑ https://www.npr.org/transcripts/796735042
  4. ↑ https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/30/opinions/codifying-roe-scotus-abortion-nourse/index.html
  5. ↑ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-these-2-legal-scholars-see-amy-coney-barretts-testimony
  6. ↑ "Victoria Nourse's University of Wisconsin Faculty Page". Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. United States Senate. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  8. ↑ Cliff Kincaid (September 10, 2007). "Senate Embarrassments Joe Biden and Larry Craig". Accuracy in Media. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  9. ↑ Strebeigh, Fred (2009). Equal on Google Books. W. W. Norton & Company. p.  352. ISBN   978-0393065558.
  10. ↑ Rutgers University Symposium on "Equal" by Fred Strebeigh
  11. 1 2 Adam Korbitz, Kohl, Feingold forward four names to President Obama for Seventh Circuit State Bar of Wisconsin (January 25, 2010). Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  12. ↑ <https://www.usccr.gov/files/2024-01/july-bis-meeting-transcript-2023.pdf
  13. ↑ https://www.usccr.gov/files/2023-04/0421-usccr-business-meetingtranscript.pdf
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.