Nan Aron | |
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Born | 1948 (age 75–76) New York City, U.S. |
Education | Oberlin College (BA) Case Western Reserve University (JD) |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Nan Aron (born 1948) is an American lawyer[1] and the founder and president of Alliance for Justice (AFJ), a liberal judicial advocacy group in the United States.[2][3][4] Staunchly progressive, Aron has been a noted opponent of conservative judicial nominees in the United States.[5][6] She repeatedly called for former Presidents Bill Clinton[2] and Barack Obama to be more aggressive in nominating progressives to the bench,[7] and during George W. Bush's presidency, urged the Democrat-controlled Senate to consider Bush's nominees closely.[2][8] She is considered a key player in confirmation hearings for judicial nominees,[2] and, in 2005, was called "the Madame Defarge of liberal court watchers" in the Wall Street Journal.[5][9]
Aron received her B.A. in sociology and Chinese from Oberlin College and her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.[9][10] Prior to founding Alliance for Justice, Aron worked as a staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project.[9][10][11] Aron went on to serve as a trial attorney for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,[9] 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,[9] and began investigating judicial nominees during Ronald Reagan's presidency.[2] She established the Alliance's Judicial Selection Project in 1985.[5]
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.[12]
Aron authored Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond in 1989,[13][14] which the Harvard Law Review said was "[s]ure to evoke a new pledge of allegiance to public interest law",[15] as well as Justice in the Making—A Citizen's Guide in 1993 with Alliance for Justice.[12]
Aron referenced overcoming the dual challenges of being a woman and a Jew in the State Department in 2004.[10]
Aron was born in a Jewish household in 1948 in New York City.[10] She is married to psychiatrist Bernard Arons; they have three children.[9]