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Nancy Ellen Friedman Atlas (born May 20, 1949) is a former
United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Texas and has six ...
.


Early life and education

Born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, Atlas received a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree from
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
in 1971 and a Juris Doctor from
New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...
in 1974. She was a law clerk to Judge Dudley Bonsal of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
from 1974 to 1976.


Career

After working in private practice in New York City from 1976 to 1978 as an associate at the law firm
Webster & Sheffield Webster & Sheffield, formerly Webster, Sheffield, Fleischmann, Hitchcock & Chrystie, was a major "white shoe" law firm in New York City from 1934 to 1991. Webster & Sheffield dissolved in 1991, 57 years after it was established.Susan Heller Ander ...
, Atlas was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1979 to 1982. She was thereafter in private practice in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, until 1995.


Federal judicial service

On April 4, 1995, Atlas was nominated by President
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 ...
to a seat on the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Texas and has six ...
vacated by
James DeAnda James DeAnda (August 21, 1925 – September 7, 2006) was an American attorney and United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, noted for his activities in defense of Hispanic civil rights, pa ...
. She was confirmed by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
on June 30, 1995, and received her commission the same day. She assumed
senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
on June 20, 2014. She retired from the court on July 31, 2022.


See also

*
List of Jewish American jurists This is a list of notable Jewish American jurists. For other famous Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews. Supreme Court of the United States Federal judges Appellate judges * Robert E. Bacharach, Judge of the United States Court of ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlas, Nancy 1949 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges Assistant United States Attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas Lawyers from New York City People from Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale High School alumni United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton