NWLC Applauds Advancement of D.C. Circuit Court Nominee Patricia Millett

(Washington, D.C.) Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Patricia A. Millett to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by a party-line vote. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) supports her confirmation.

“Patricia Millett is a litigator at the top of her field. She is extremely well-qualified to serve on this important court, as Senator Lee stated so eloquently at her hearing,” said NWLC Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger. “Yet because a minority of the Senate seeks to block any further confirmations to the D.C. Circuit, Ms. Millett did not receive the bipartisan vote that her exceptional record warrants.”

Patricia Millett is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where she heads the firm’s Supreme Court practice, and is co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice. She has argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court, the second highest of any woman, and has been repeatedly recognized as one of the best appellate lawyers in the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Ms. Millett clerked for Judge Thomas Tang on the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals after two years of private practice. She then joined the Civil Appellate Division in the Department of Justice, followed by over ten years as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. During that time, she was awarded the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.

“We applaud those members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted in support of her nomination today,” said Greenberger. “Ms. Millett, along with the other two exceptionally qualified nominees to this court, deserves an up-or-down vote before the full Senate.

“The Center is proud to support Patricia Millett and urges the Senate to confirm this highly qualified nominee to the D.C. Circuit.”