Carin Ann Clauss (born January 24, 1939) was the first female
United States Solicitor of Labor
The United States solicitor of labor is the chief legal officer of the United States Department of Labor and the third-ranking officer of the department, behind the secretary of labor and deputy secretary of labor. The Office of the Solicitor ha ...
.
Early life
Carin Ann Clauss was born on January 24, 1939, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
She attended
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
, graduating in 1960 with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
. Three years later, Clauss graduated from
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
as one of six women in her class.
Career
Following law school, Clauss worked at the
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...
in the Office of the Solicitor,
joining the department in August 1963.
During her tenure, she served as Deputy Counsel of Appellate Litigation in 1968 and 1969 and co-chaired the
Labor Committee of the Federal Bar Association in 1968 and 1972.
She also worked to develop the department's litigation strategy for enforcing the
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States labor law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex (see gender pay gap). It was signed into law on June 10, 1963, by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Fro ...
.
On February 24, 1977, President Carter announced his nomination of Clauss to serve as the Solicitor of the Department of Labor.
She was confirmed the same year, becoming the first female
solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
of the Department of Labor.
She served in that position until 1981.
In 1978, while she was still at the Department of Labor, President Carter nominated Clauss to be a
United States District Judge for the District of Columbia. However, she declined to be considered a second time after her original nomination stalled due to Congress adjourning before considering her nomination.
After leaving the Department of Labor, Clauss taught at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
, specializing in labor and employment law.
She holds the Nathan P. Feinsinger Chair in Labor Law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
See also
*
Jimmy Carter judicial appointment controversies During President Jimmy Carter's presidency, he nominated four people for four different federal appellate judgeships who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee before Carter's presidency ended. None of the four ...
*
List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
This list of the first women lawyers and judges in each state of the United States includes the years in which the women were admitted to practice law. Also included are women of other distinctions, such as the first in their states to get law de ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clauss, Carin
1939 births
Living people
United States Department of Labor officials
Carter administration personnel
Columbia Law School alumni
Vassar College alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
People from Knoxville, Tennessee
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American women lawyers