Natasha Merle
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Assumed office
August 11, 2023
Appointed byJoe Biden
Preceded bySeat established
Personal details
Born
Natasha Clarise Merle[1]

1983 (age 40–41)
Brunswick, Maine, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin (BA)
New York University (JD)

Natasha Clarise Merle (born 1983)[1] is an American lawyer from New York who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Education

Merle received her Bachelor of Arts in government and Spanish, with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and she graduated, cum laude, with a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 2008.[2][3]

Career

Merle began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Robert L. Carter of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2008 to 2009. From 2009 to 2011, she was a staff attorney at the Gulf Region Advocacy Center.[4] Merle then became an assistant federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender.[4][5] She also served as a law clerk for Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2012 to 2013.

From 2013 to 2015, Merle was a litigation associate and civil rights fellow at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in New York City.

From 2016 to 2021, she served as assistant counsel and then senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund ("LDF"). From 2021 to 2023, she was the deputy director of litigation at LDF.[2]

From 2019 to 2021, Merle was a adjunct professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law and from 2020 to 2021, she was a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School.[1][6]

Notable cases

In 2017, Merle was a member of the petitioner team in Buck v. Davis.[3][7][8][9]

In 2017, Merle was lead counsel for NAACP LDF v. Trump.[10][11][12]

Federal judicial service

On January 19, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Merle to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. President Biden nominated Merle to a new seat created following the appointment of Roslynn R. Mauskopf as director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.[13] On April 27, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[14] During Merle's confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her over comments she made in 2017 in which she said that proposals for voter ID laws and a border wall were based in white supremacy.[15][16][17] On May 26, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[18] On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate; she was renominated later the same day.[19] On February 2, 2023, the committee failed to report her nomination by a 10–10 vote.[20] On February 9, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.[21] On June 21, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 51–50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris voting in the affirmative.[22] Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–49 vote.[23] Senator Joe Manchin joined all the Senate Republicans in opposing her nomination.[16] Merle was President Biden's 100th district court judge to be confirmed.[24][25][26] She received her judicial commission on August 11, 2023.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "President Biden Names Thirteenth Round of Judicial Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ a b "Natasha Merle". NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Voruganti, Harsh (3 March 2022). "Natasha Merle – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York". The Vetting Room. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Unrig the Courts".
  6. ^ a b Natasha C. Merle at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  7. ^ Liptak, Adam (22 February 2017). "Citing Racist Testimony, Justices Call for New Sentencing in Texas Death Penalty Case". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "Some Toxins Can Be Deadly in Small Doses". The Atlantic. 23 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Buck v. Davis Oral Argument".
  10. ^ "LDF v. Trump".
  11. ^ "Natasha Merle".
  12. ^ "NAACP LDF Lawsuit: Trump Violated Voting Rights Act". 21 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 19, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  14. ^ "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. April 25, 2022.
  15. ^ Lucas, Fred (3 May 2023). "Meet Biden's most controversial judicial nominees stalled in Senate because of Feinstein's absence". Fox News. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  16. ^ a b Headley, Tiana. "Civil Rights Lawyer Who Drew GOP Ire Confirmed to NY Court (1)". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  17. ^ "Sen. Susan Collins' 'no' votes on judicial nominees have risen sharply under Biden". June 25, 2023.
  18. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – May 26, 2022" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  19. ^ "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 3, 2023.
  20. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – February 2, 2023" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  21. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – February 9, 2023" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  22. ^ "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Natasha C. Merle to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York)". United States Senate. June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  23. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Natasha C. Merle, of New York, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York)". United States Senate. June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  24. ^ "U.S. Senate Confirms 100th Federal District Court Judge, Natasha Merle". Democracy Docket. June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  25. ^ "House Dems fume at Senate over Biden nominations". Politico. June 23, 2023.
  26. ^ Hulse, Carl (28 June 2023). "Democrats Reach Milestone: 100 New District Court Judges". The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2023.

External links

Legal offices New seat Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York 2023–present Incumbent
Active district judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Categories