NELA

Empowering Workers' Rights Attorneys

Judicial Nominations

Judicial Nominations

NELA Opposes Anna St. John Nomination to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Dear Senator Durbin,

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 national, circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our opposition to the nomination of Anna St. John to fill a vacancy on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in employment, labor, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA’s mission is to empower workers’ rights attorneys through legal training, promoting a fair judiciary, and advocating for laws and policies that level the playing field for workers. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases actually play out on the ground and an accurate understanding of the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and rights of working people.

Judge St. John’s background demonstrates a strong bias in favor of employers and corporations, and a strong bias against workers, consumers, survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault, and LGBTQ+ individuals. From her belief in forced arbitration as an … Read More

DOWNLOAD

NELA Opposes Justin D. Smith Nomination to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Dear Senator Durbin,

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 national, circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our opposition to the nomination of Justin D. Smith to fill a vacancy in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in employment, labor, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA’s mission is to empower workers’ rights attorneys through legal training, promoting a fair judiciary, and advocating for laws and policies that level the playing field for workers. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases actually play out on the ground and an accurate understanding of the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and rights of working people.

Mr. Smith has spent his legal career siding with the rich and powerful and advancing an extreme conservative agenda, including serving as a board member with far-right dark money organizations such as First Principles Action and Publius Fund. This … Read More

DOWNLOAD

NELA Opposes the Nomination of Andrew Davis to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Dear Senator Durbin,

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 national, circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our opposition to the nomination of Andrew Davis to fill a vacancy in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin).

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in employment, labor, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA’s mission is to empower workers’ rights attorneys through legal training, promoting a fair judiciary, and advocating for laws and policies that level the playing field for workers. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases actually play out on the ground and an accurate understanding of the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and rights of working people.

Mr. Davis’s background and experience indicate that he is not a standard conservative nominee; rather, he appears to be a highly specialized architect of the modern conservative legal movement’s most aggressive structural arguments. His career … Read More

DOWNLOAD

Diversity on the Bench: “It All Matters”

As you can read on our website page, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of the National Employment Lawyers Association. Those values are essential to the achievement of NELA’s mission, which includes empowering workers’ rights attorneys by promoting a fair judiciary. In other words, NELA is committed to the principle that the playing field for its members, and their clients, is “level” only if the group of people who have the authority to decide on the merits of their claims – the judiciary – is, taken as a whole, “fair.”

And to be “fair,” the judiciary must reflect the diversity of the population of citizens that it serves. The Brennan Center for Justice put it aptly in an article titled, What Research Shows About the Importance of Supreme Court Diversity: “Ensuring demographic and experiential diversity on the bench is not just an appropriate component of judicial selection, it is necessary.” As the article points out, this is true for a number of reasons.

First, because the judiciary is a vital public institution, it is critical for it to have the trust and confidence of the public that it serves, and “a diverse judiciary helps instill trust in the … Read More

NELA Supports the Nomination of Jamal Whitehead to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
U.S. Senator for the State of Illinois

The Honorable Charles Grassley
Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
U.S. Senator for the State of Iowa

Re: Confirmation of Jamal Whitehead to the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington

Dear Chair Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley,

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our strongest possible endorsement of  Jamal Whitehead to be confirmed as a District Court judge for the Western District of Washington—a court that, among other things, oversees federal action on workers’ rights. 

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in labor, employment, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA advances employee rights and serves lawyers who advocate for equality and justice in the American workplace. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases actually play out on the ground and an accurate understanding of the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and the rights of … Read More

NELA Supports the Nomination of Nancy Maldonado to the Northern District of Illinois

Dear Chair Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley,

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our strongest possible recommendation that Nancy Maldonado be considered for nomination to fill the vacancy on the Northern District of Illinois—a court that, among other things, oversees federal action on workers’ rights.

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in labor, employment, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA advances employee rights and serves lawyers who advocate for equality and justice in the American workplace. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases actually play out on the ground and an accurate understanding of the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and the rights of working people. Ms. Maldonado is exactly the type of individual who is ideally suited to serve on the federal bench. She is a highly accomplished and well-respected litigator who has extensive experience in all aspects of federal litigation, having spent a career protecting the legal rights of workers.

There … Read More

NELA Supports the Nomination of Nancy Abudu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Dear Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Grassley, and Committee Members:

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 national, circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our strongest support for the confirmation of Nancy Abudu to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in labor, employment, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA empowers workers’ rights attorneys through legal training, promoting a fair judiciary, and advocating for laws and policies that level the playing field for workers. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and the rights of working people.

Ms. Abudu’s extensive litigation experience, her exemplary professional credentials, and her outstanding educational background, make her eminently qualified to serve as a federal appellate judge. Ms. Abudu received her undergraduate degree at Columbia University. She earned her law degree at Tulane University Law School where she served as Managing Editor of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal. While in law school … Read More

The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) Celebrates the Historic Appointment of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U. S. Supreme Court

By a vote of 53 to 47, the Senate today confirmed the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman justice to serve on the high court in its 233-year history. All 50 Senate Democrats and three Senate Republicans voted in good faith to confirm her appointment. Justice Jackson’s historic confirmation is a culmination of her decades in public service as a Supreme Court clerk, public defender, District Court Judge, and most recently judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) celebrates this profound milestone in our nation’s history, and we congratulate Justice Jackson on her well-deserved achievement.

The United States needs judges on the bench who have a diversity of backgrounds, informed by real-life experience. The Supreme Court is the final word on many issues that profoundly affect the lives of working people, including those who have been victims of wage theft, workers who have experienced unjust harassment or discrimination, and those who face dangerous and unsafe conditions in their workplace. 

NELA has long advocated for demographic and experiential diversity on the bench – both are crucial to ensuring that … Read More

NELA Supports Confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to U.S. Supreme Court

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Dear Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Grassley, and Committee Members:

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 national, circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our strongest possible recommendation and our enthusiastic support for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court. We are proud to support President Biden’s inspiring and historic choice in nominating Judge Jackson. As our nation’s highest court, the Supreme Court oversees federal action on workers’ rights, among the many matters addressed by the Court.

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in labor, employment, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA empowers workers’ rights attorneys through legal training, promoting a fair judiciary, and advocating for laws and policies that level the playing field for workers. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and the rights of working people.

First and foremost, NELA seeks to ensure that the judges who hear and render decisions in … Read More

An Extraordinary Moment For All Black Women and Black People, for All Women, and For All Working People

By Corinne A. Williams, National Institute for Workers’ Rights PHT Attorney Fellow

The confirmation of a Black woman to the Supreme Court will be a huge affirmation of what we already know to be true, that there are and have been scores of Black women who are more than qualified to serve on the Supreme Court in its 232-year history. Black women are some of the most brilliant and tactful jurists on the bench and there is a very long list of Black women attorneys who are powerful advocates in the courtroom, strong leaders in boardrooms, and brilliant thinkers in academic settings. There has never been a shortage of Black women who are deeply qualified to serve. But, despite the national treasure that we have in highly qualified Black women, there is an enormous lack of willingness of those in power to elevate us to positions of power and influence in this country.

This is an extraordinary moment—for all Black women and Black people, for all women, and for all working people. We are eager to see President Biden’s commitment to nominating a Black woman to the Supreme Court fulfilled, because we know that this moment in history is not … Read More

NELA Statement on Justice Stephen Breyer’s Retirement

The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and National Institute for Workers’ Rights (the Institute) thank Justice Stephen Breyer for his nearly 30 years of service on the U.S. Supreme Court. He will leave a legacy of opinions in support of women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, health care, and civil liberties—issues that affect working people from all walks of life.

As we honor Justice Breyer’s legacy, we celebrate this opportunity for President Biden to keep his commitment to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court. We support the Biden Administration in continuing to bring both demographic and experiential diversity to the federal bench, which is far stronger, fairer and more reflective of our country today as a result. NELA and the Institute will continue to advocate for a federal bench that upholds our commitment to civil rights and equal justice on issues that affect working people. We urge President Biden and the Senate to move forward expeditiously, and to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court from among our nation’s abundance of highly qualified women jurists, scholars and lawyers.

About the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)

Founded in 1985, the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) is the nation’s largest bar … Read More

NELA Supports the Nomination of Dale Ho to the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York

Dear Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Grassley, and Committee Members:

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, we write to express our organization’s strong support for the nomination of Dale Ho to serve as a judge on the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”).

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprised of lawyers who represent workers in labor, employment, and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA advances employee rights and serves lawyers who advocate for equality and justice in the American workplace. Our members litigate daily in every federal district and circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases play out on the ground and an accurate understanding of the profound impact of the judiciary on the daily lives and the rights of working people.

We write today to commend Dale Ho as an exemplary nominee for the SDNY. Mr. Ho is a graduate of Princeton University (1999) and Yale Law School (2005), after which he clerked for Judge Barbara Jones of the SDNY and Judge Robert Smith of the New York Court of … Read More