Georgetown Law Prof. Nina Pillard Nominated to Federal Appeals Court

Georgetown University Law Prof. Cornelia (“Nina”) Pillard is one of President Obama’s three nominees to the Federal Appeals Court in D.C.

According to her law school biography, Prof. Pillard got her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her law degree from Harvard University.

Prior to teaching at Georgetown University, she specialized in litigation. Her prior positions include serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and Assistant to the Solicitor General.

Pillard has argued nine cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, including the notable United States v. Virginia, which in 1996 caused the Virginia Military Institute to start accepting women.

At Georgetown, Pillard is faculty co-director of the Supreme Court Institute. The SCI helps lawyers prepare for Supreme Court arguments.

The other two nominees are Patricia Ann Millett, an appeals lawyer in D.C. and Robert Leon Wilkins, a U.S. District Court judge.

Many have referred to the Federal Appeals Court as the “second-highest court” and several current and former U.S. Supreme Court justices have come from the appeals court.

In his nomination speech, Obama criticized Senate Republicans for “obstruction” in delaying hearings on his judicial nominees.