Natasha C. Merle

Natasha C. Merle (born 1983)[1] is an American lawyer from New York who is a nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Natasha Merle
Personal details
Born
Natasha Clarice Merle[1]

1983 (age 39–40)
Brunswick, Maine, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin (BA)
New York University (JD)

Education

Merle received her Bachelor of Arts in government and Spanish, with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and she graduated, cum laude, with a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 2008.[2][3]

Career

Merle began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Robert L. Carter of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2008 to 2009. From 2009 to 2011, she was a staff attorney at the Gulf Region Advocacy Center.[4] Merle then became an assistant federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender.[4][5] She also served as a law clerk for Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2012 to 2013.

From 2013 to 2015, Merle was a litigation associate and civil rights fellow at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in New York City.

From 2016 to 2021, she served as assistant counsel and then senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund ("LDF"). She was a member of the petitioner team in Buck v. Davis in 2017.[3] Since 2021, she has been the deputy director of litigation at LDF.[2] She was lead counsel for NAACP LDF v. Trump.[6] [7]

Nomination to district court

On January 19, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Merle to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. President Biden nominated Merle to a new seat.[8] On April 27, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[9] During Merle's confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her for her 2017 comments in which she said that proposals for voter ID laws and a border wall were based in white supremacy.[10] On May 26, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[11] On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate; she was renominated later the same day.[12] On February 2, 2023, the committee deadlocked on her nomination by a 10–10 vote, which means that her nomination will be reconsidered.[13] On February 9, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.[14] Her nomination is pending before the United States Senate.

References
  1. "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  2. "President Biden Names Thirteenth Round of Judicial Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. "Natasha Merle". NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  4. Voruganti, Harsh (3 March 2022). "Natasha Merle – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York". The Vetting Room. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  5. "Unrig the Courts".
  6. "LDF v. Trump".
  7. "Natasha Merle".
  8. "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 19, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. April 25, 2022.
  10. Lucas, Fred (3 May 2023). "Meet Biden's most controversial judicial nominees stalled in Senate because of Feinstein's absence". Fox News. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  11. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – May 26, 2022" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  12. "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 3, 2023.
  13. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – February 2, 2023" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  14. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – February 9, 2023" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved February 9, 2023.



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