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Demand Justice’s Supreme Court shortlist illustrates the breadth of progressive talent available to a president committed to nominating a diverse group of justices who have spent their careers fighting to uphold the values of equal justice under the law.

Michelle Alexander
  • Visiting Professor of Social Justice, Union Theological Seminary
  • Author, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
  • Founding Director, Racial Justice Project, ACLU of Northern California
  • Clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Chief Judge Abner Mikva, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • J.D., Stanford Law School
  • B.A., Vanderbilt University
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Brigitte Amiri
  • Deputy Director, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
  • Lead counsel in Garza v. Hargan, challenging the Trump administration’s attempted ban on abortion for unaccompanied immigrant minors
  • Counsel to the last abortion clinic in Kentucky, defending against the governor’s attempts to shut it down
  • Former Attorney, Foreclosure Prevention Project, South Brooklyn Legal Services
  • Former Attorney, Center for Reproductive Rights
  • J.D., Northeastern University School of Law
  • B.A., DePaul University
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Cheri Beasley
  • Chief Justice, Supreme Court of North Carolina
  • Former Associate Justice, North Carolina Court of Appeals and Judge, North Carolina’s 12th Judicial District
  • Former Public Defender, Cumberland County
  • LL.M., Duke University School of Law
  • J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
  • B.A., Rutgers University
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Xavier Becerra
  • Attorney General of California
  • Former U.S. Representative, 34th District of California
  • Former Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice
  • Former Attorney, Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts
  • J.D., Stanford Law School
  • B.A., Stanford University
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Nicole Berner
  • General Counsel, Service Employees International Union
  • Former Attorney, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
  • Clerk to Judge Betty Binns Fletcher, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Clerk to Judge Thelton E. Henderson, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • M.P.P., University of California, Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy
  • B.A., University of California, Berkeley
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Sharon Block
  • Executive Director, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
  • Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Senior Counselor to U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez
  • Former Member, National Labor Relations Board
  • Former Senior Labor and Employment Counsel to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy
  • J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
  • B.A., Columbia University
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Elise Boddie
  • Henry Rutgers Professor, Professor of Law, and Judge Robert L. Carter Scholar, Rutgers Law School
  • Founder and Director, The Inclusion Project, Rutgers Law School
  • Former Director of Litigation, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Clerk to Judge Robert L. Carter, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • M.P.P., Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
  • B.A., Yale University
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Richard F. Boulware
  • Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
  • Former Attorney, Federal Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas
  • Former Attorney, Federal Defenders of New York
  • Clerk to Judge Denise Cote, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • J.D., Columbia Law School
  • A.B., Harvard College
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Kristen Clarke
  • President & Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
  • Former Chief, Civil Rights Bureau, Office of the New York State Attorney General
  • Former Co-Director, Political Participation Group, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Former Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • J.D., Columbia Law School
  • A.B., Harvard College
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Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
  • Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
  • Former Stanley Morrison Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
  • Former Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy, President Barack Obama
  • Clerk to Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • Ph.D. in Political Science, Stanford University
  • B.A., Harvard College
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Anita Earls
  • Associate Justice, Supreme Court of North Carolina
  • Founding Executive Director, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
  • Former Director of Advocacy, University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights
  • Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • B.A., Williams College
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James Forman, Jr.
  • J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, Yale Law School
  • Author, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
  • Former Attorney, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia
  • Clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge William Norris, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • A.B., Brown University
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Fatima Goss Graves
  • President and CEO, National Women’s Law Center
  • Co-Founder, TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund
  • Clerk to Judge Diane P. Wood, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
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Deepak Gupta
  • Founding Principal, Gupta Wessler PLLC
  • Former Senior Counsel for Litigation and Enforcement Strategy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • Founding Director, Consumer Justice Project, Public Citizen Litigation Group
  • Clerk to Judge Lawrence K. Karlton, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
  • J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
  • B.A., Fordham University
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Vanita Gupta
  • President and CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
  • Former Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Former Deputy Legal Director and Director of the Center for Justice, ACLU
  • Former Attorney, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • J.D., New York University School of Law
  • B.A., Yale University
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Dale Ho
  • Director, ACLU Voting Rights Project
  • Lead counsel in Department of Commerce v. New York, challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the Census
  • Former Attorney, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Clerk to Judge Robert Smith, New York Court of Appeals
  • Clerk to Judge Barbara Jones, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • A.B., Princeton University
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Sherrilyn Ifill
  • President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Former Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law
  • Author, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century
  • J.D., New York University School of Law
  • B.A., Vassar College
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Ketanji Brown Jackson
  • Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
  • Former Vice Chair and Commissioner, U.S. Sentencing Commission
  • Former Attorney, Federal Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia
  • Clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge Bruce M. Selya, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
  • Clerk to Judge Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • A.B., Harvard College
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Pamela S. Karlan
  • Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, Co-Director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School
  • Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge Abraham D. Sofaer, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • M.A. and B.A., Yale University
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Jane L. Kelly
  • Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • Former Attorney, Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa
  • Clerk to Judge David Hansen, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • Clerk to Judge Daniel Porter, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., Duke University
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Lawrence Krasner
  • District Attorney, City of Philadelphia
  • Founder, Krasner and Associates
  • Former Attorney, Philadelphia Public Defender and Federal Public Defender’s Office in Philadelphia
  • J.D., Stanford Law School
  • B.A., University of Chicago
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Leondra Kruger
  • Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
  • Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel
  • Former Assistant to the Solicitor General and Acting Deputy Solicitor General
  • Clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge David Tatel, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • B.A., Harvard College
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Catherine Lhamon
  • Chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
  • Legal Affairs Secretary, Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom
  • Former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education
  • Former Director of Impact Litigation, Public Counsel
  • Clerk to Judge William A. Norris, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • B.A., Amherst College
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Goodwin Liu
  • Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
  • Former Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • Former Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
  • Clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge David Tatel, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • M.A., Oxford University
  • B.S., Stanford University
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M. Elizabeth Magill
  • Executive Vice President and Provost, University of Virginia
  • Former Dean and Richard E. Lang Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
  • Author of administrative law casebook and a nationally-recognized expert in administrative and constitutional law
  • Former Senior Legislative Assistant for Energy and Natural Resources to U.S. Senator Kent Conrad
  • Clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • J.D., University of Virginia School of Law
  • B.A., Yale University
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Shannon Minter
  • Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights
  • Counsel to plaintiffs in Doe v. Trump, the first case to challenge the Trump administration’s attempted ban on military service by transgender people.
  • Lead counsel in In re Marriage Cases, in which the California Supreme Court held that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry
  • J.D., Cornell Law School
  • B.A., University of Texas at Austin
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Melissa Murray
  • Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, New York University School of Law
  • Former Interim Dean, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • Author of the first casebook to cover the field of reproductive rights and justice and a nationally-recognized expert in family law, constitutional law, and reproductive rights and justice
  • Clerk to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • Clerk to Judge Stefan R. Underhill, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • B.A., University of Virginia
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Adrienne Nelson
  • Associate Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
  • Former Judge, Multnomah County Circuit Court
  • Former Attorney, Multnomah Defenders
  • Former Senior Attorney, Portland State University Student Legal and Mediation Services
  • J.D., University of Texas School of Law
  • B.A., University of Arkansas
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Janai Nelson
  • Associate Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Former Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship, Associate Director of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and
  • Economic Development, and Professor of Law, St. John’s University School of Law
  • Clerk to Judge Theodore McMillian, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • Clerk to Judge David H. Coar, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • J.D., University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
  • B.A., New York University
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Nina Perales
  • Vice President of Litigation, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Counsel for DACA beneficiaries challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy
  • Lead counsel in Arizona v. Intertribal Council of Arizona, challenging Arizona’s proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration
  • Lead counsel in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, a Voting Rights Act challenge to Texas’s congressional redistricting plan
  • J.D., Columbia Law School
  • A.B., Brown University
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Cornelia Pillard
  • Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • Former Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director, Georgetown Law Supreme Court Institute, Georgetown University Law Center
  • Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Former Attorney, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Clerk to Judge Louis H. Pollak, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., Yale University
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Katie Porter
  • U.S. Representative, 45th District of California
  • Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law (on leave)
  • Former Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, Office of the Attorney General of the State of California
  • Author of consumer law casebook and a nationally-recognized consumer protection expert
  • Clerk to Judge Richard S. Arnold, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., Yale University
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Carlton Reeves
  • Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
  • Co-Founder, Pigott, Reeves, Johnson, P.A.
  • Former Chief, Civil Division, Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi
  • Clerk to Judge Reuben Anderson, Supreme Court of Mississippi
  • J.D., University of Virginia School of Law
  • B.A., Jackson State University
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L. Song Richardson
  • Dean and Chancellor's Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law
  • Former Partner, Schroeter Goldmark & Bender
  • Former Assistant Public Defender, Racial Justice Project, The Defender Association (Seattle)
  • Former Assistant Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender’s Office (Tacoma)
  • Former Assistant Counsel, Capital Punishment/Criminal Justice Project, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • A.B., Harvard College
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Thomas A. Saenz
  • President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Former Counsel to the Mayor, Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
  • Clerk to Judge Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Clerk to Judge Harry L. Hupp, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • B.A., Yale University
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Bryan Stevenson
  • Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative
  • Aronson Family Professor of Criminal Justice, New York University School of Law
  • Former Attorney, Southern Center for Human Rights
  • Author, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • M.P.P., Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
  • B.A., Eastern College
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Christina Swarns
  • Executive Director, Innocence Project
  • Former President and Attorney-In-Charge, Office of the Appellate Defender (New York City)
  • Former Director of Litigation, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Former Supervising Assistant Federal Defender, Federal Public Defender’s Office in Philadelphia
  • Former Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Division, Legal Aid Society (New York City)
  • J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School
  • B.A., Howard University
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Zephyr Teachout
  • Associate Professor of Law, Fordham Law School
  • Author, Corruption in America
  • Author, Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money (forthcoming)
  • Former National Director, Sunlight Foundation
  • Co-Founding Executive Director, The Fair Trial Initiative
  • Clerk to Chief Judge Edward R. Becker, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • J.D., Duke Law School
  • M.A., Duke University
  • B.A., Yale University
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Cecillia Wang
  • Deputy Legal Director and Director, Center for Democracy, ACLU
  • Counsel to plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration’s Muslim ban
  • Former Attorney, Federal Defenders of New York
  • Clerk to retired Justice Harry A. Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court (working in the chambers of Justice Stephen G. Breyer)
  • Clerk to Judge William A. Norris, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • J.D., Yale Law School
  • A.B., University of California, Berkeley
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G. Helen Whitener
  • Associate Justice, Washington Supreme Court
  • Former Judge, Pierce County Superior Court and Washington State Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals
  • Former Public Defender, Pierce County’s Department of Assigned Counsel
  • J.D., Seattle University School of Law
  • B.A., Baruch College
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Wilhelmina Wright
  • Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
  • Former Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
  • Former Judge, Minnesota Court of Appeals and Minnesota District Court, Second Judicial District (Ramsey County)
  • Clerk to Judge Damon J. Keith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., Yale University
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Timothy Wu
  • Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology, Columbia Law School
  • Former Special Advisor, National Economic Council, The White House
  • Former Senior Enforcement Counsel and Special Advisor, New York Attorney General's Office
  • Former Senior Advisor, Antitrust and Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission
  • Clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clerk to Judge Richard Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.S., McGill University
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Jenny Yang
  • Senior Fellow, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute
  • Former Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • Former Partner, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
  • Former Senior Trial Attorney, Employment Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Former Attorney, National Employment Law Project
  • J.D., New York University School of Law
  • B.A., Cornell University
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