Nan Aron (born 1948) is an American lawyer and the founder and president of

Alliance for Justice Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is a progressive judicial advocacy group in the United States. Founded in 1979 by former president Nan Aron, AFJ monitors federal judicial appointments. AFJ represents a coalition of 100 politically leftist groups that ...

(AFJ), a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

judicial advocacy group in the United States. Staunchly progressive, Aron has been a noted opponent of conservative judicial nominees in the United States. She repeatedly called for former Presidents

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

to be more aggressive in nominating progressives to the bench, and during

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's presidency, urged the Democrat-controlled Senate to consider Bush's nominees closely. She is considered a key player in confirmation hearings for judicial nominees, and, in 2005, was called "the

Madame Defarge Madame Thérèse Defarge is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities'' by Charles Dickens. She is a ringleader of the tricoteuses, a tireless worker for the French Revolution, memorably knitting besi ...

of liberal court watchers" in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.

Career

Aron received her B.A. in sociology and Chinese from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

and her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Prior to founding

, Aron worked as a staff attorney for the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

's National Prison Project. Aron went on to serve as a trial attorney for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she litigated race and sex discrimination cases against companies and unions in federal and district courts. In 1979, Aron founded the

, and began investigating judicial nominees during

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's presidency. She established the Alliance's Judicial Selection Project in 1985. Aron has taught at Georgetown and

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...

s, and serves on the Dean's Advisory Council at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

's Washington College of Law. Aron authored ''Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond'' in 1989, which the ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...

'' said was " re to evoke a new pledge of allegiance to public interest law", as well as ''Justice in the Making—A Citizen's Guide'' in 1993 with Alliance for Justice. Aron referenced overcoming the dual challenges of being a woman and a Jew in the State Department in 2004.

Personal life

Aron was born in a Jewish household in 1948 in New York City. She is married to psychiatrist Bernard Arons; they have three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aron, Nan Oberlin College alumni Case Western Reserve University alumni American civil rights lawyers American women lawyers American lawyers Living people People from Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale High School alumni 1948 births 21st-century American women