Roxanne Barton Conlin (born June 30, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 1977 to 1981. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she was a candidate for

Governor of Iowa A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 1982 and for

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 ...

in 2010 but was not elected to either post.

Education and early career

Conlin was born to Marion W. and Alyce M. Barton on June 30, 1944, in

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

. Conlin and her family moved to

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...

, Clinton, and then Des Moines,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, in 1958. She attended

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. His ...

in Des Moines, earning a

B.A. 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 yea ...

, J.D. and M.P.A. She married James Conlin in 1964 and has four children. After working as a lawyer for three years, she served as Deputy Industrial Commissioner in Des Moines from 1967 to 1968, then an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Iowa for seven years (1969–1976). She headed the Civil Rights Section of the Iowa Department of Justice.

Later legal and political career

Jimmy Carter appointed Conlin as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in May, 1977, making her one of the first women ever appointed as a US Attorney. She was confirmed by the Senate in early June, 1977. She was sworn in on June 6, 1977, and received her commission the next day on June 7, 1977. She decided to step down from the court in early 1981. Conlin has served as the first female president of the

Association of Trial Lawyers of America The American Association for Justice (AAJ), formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) is a nonprofit advocacy and lobbying organization for plaintiff's lawyers in the United States. Focused on opposing tort reform, the organizati ...

(ATLA). She also founded and was the first chair of the Iowa Women's Political Caucus and served as president of NOW's Legal Defense and Education Fund. Conlin has been involved in the

Iowa Democratic Party The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Iowa. While existing when Iowa was granted statehood in 1846, it did not gain broad electoral success until the mid-1950s, when demographic change ...

, serving for a short time as state chair, and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Iowa in 1982. Conlin currently practices law at Roxanne Conlin & Associates, P.C. in Des Moines.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign

In October 2009, she announced she was running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2010 against Bob Krause and

Tom Fiegen Thomas Lewis Fiegen (born October 2, 1958) is an American attorney and Democratic Party politician. He served in the Iowa State Senate from 2001 to 2003. He sought the Democratic nomination in the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Iowa but came i ...

. In the primary, she was criticized for being unwilling to debate her primary opponents. Conlin later criticized her

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

opponent in the general election for his unwillingness to debate her. During the primary campaign, Conlin also faced criticism for avoiding questions about her stance on platform issues. Questioned in an April 28 live chat, sponsored by GazetteOnline.com, about disagreements with the Democratic party platform, Conlin answered she could not know the party platform because it would not be adopted until June 2010. When it was pointed out that the current party platform was ratified at the 2008 state convention and is the party platform until superseded, she had no response. Conlin later lost the November 2010 general election against six-term Republican incumbent

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate, and the senior United States senator from Iowa, having held the seat since 1981. In 2022, h ...

References

External links

Roxanne Conlin & Associates
law firm
Roxanne for Iowa
''official campaign site'' *
Campaign contributions
at

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Conlin, Roxanne 1944 births Drake University alumni Iowa Democrats Iowa lawyers Living people People from Huron, South Dakota United States Attorneys for the Southern District of Iowa Women in Iowa politics Candidates in the 1982 United States elections Candidates in the 2010 United States elections People from Des Moines, Iowa 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers Drake University Law School alumni