2021 Frank Wheat Memorial Award Nominees
Team Nominee: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Cross-Office Amicus Brief Teams
Gibson Dunn filed two amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, one on behalf of constitutional law scholars, and another on behalf of the California Women’s Law Center. The brief on behalf of constitutional law scholars addresses the constitutionality of a Mississippi law prohibiting abortions performed at or after 15 weeks, arguing that overturning Roe v. Wade, which Mississippi asks the Court to do in upholding its law, would place women and their families at the mercy of state legislatures, denying them the basic right to make among the most personal decisions about their bodies, their families, and their futures.
The Gibson Dunn team included partners Orin Snyder, Josh Lipshutz, and Katie Marquart, as well as associates Stella Cernak, Lauren Kole, Maya Nuland, Sarah Segal, Lauren Myers, Grace Assaye, Katy Baker, Laura Erstad, Monica Murphy, and Sarah Pongrace.
Gibson Dunn also filed an amicus brief on behalf of the California Women’s Law Center highlighting the ways in which Mississippi’s ban would lead to a substantial and detrimental increase in interstate travel among women needing abortion care. The brief urges the Court to continue to consider the financial, medical, and emotional psychological tolls such travel has on women, as well as the ways in which a rise in travel would adversely affect states like California, which have fewer restrictions on who may receive abortion care.
The team included partners Theane Evangelis and Lauren Blas, as well as associates Jillian London, Emily Sauer, Adrienne Liu, and Nicole Matthews.
Oral arguments were head before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 1, 2021.
INDIVIDUAL NOMINEE
Roscoe Jones, a partner in the DC office, represented pro bono the Lawyers’ Committee, a national civil rights organization dedicated to pursuing racial justice, in support of their efforts to confirm Kristen Clarke, President Biden’s historic nominee to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Roscoe led the Senate confirmation strategy and outreach efforts for the organization, coordinated with the broader civil rights community, Senate Judiciary Committee, and Administration, and advocated to Senators in support of her nomination. Specifically, Roscoe: (1) developed and coordinated the Senate strategy for the civil rights community to ensure Kristen Clarke was confirmed; (2) conducted outreach to Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee and other key Senators whose vote would be needed to secure confirmation; (3) managed a team of two law firms and the client’s government affairs personnel to ensure a coordinated and unified strategy; (4) coordinated with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs, and the Senate Judiciary Committee majority staff on outreach efforts; and (5) led weekly briefings of the CEOs of the major U.S. civil rights organizations, such as the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, National Women’s Law Center, and others, on outreach efforts. Roscoe also assisted in the moots for Assistant Attorney General Clarke’s “murder boards” to prepare for her Senate confirmation hearing.
Obtaining Senate confirmation here on a contentious nomination was no easy feat. Democrats and Republicans sparred over her record and support for law enforcement, despite her being a former federal prosecutor who worked closely with law enforcement, and how vigorously she would enforce civil rights laws, especially involving police officers. But Roscoe lead the outreach to highlight to Senators her two decades of experience in civil rights and time as a federal prosecutor, which was helpful in obtaining Senate confirmation and picking up the critical bipartisan vote of Senator Susan Collins of Maine.
As a result, Assistant Attorney General Clarke was confirmed in a 51-48 vote, with bipartisan support, making her the first Black woman, first woman of color, and first woman to lead the Civil Rights Division. Importantly, in the age of hyper partisanship, Roscoe helped secured a bipartisan confirmation effort by persuading Senator Susan Collins to support the confirmation. Without Senator Collins’ vote, this nomination would have been labeled as simply partisan and would have passed the US Senate on a party line vote, which would could have chilled her credibility and effectiveness once confirmed.
The client thanked Roscoe and the Gibson Dunn team for their “incredible advocacy,” and multiple coalition partners were “greatly impressed” by the work of Roscoe and the Gibson Dunn team, noting that they “wouldn’t have reached 51 [votes] without [our] partnership, and strategic guidance.” In recognition of Roscoe’s leadership and contributions to advancing the historic nomination, he received the Brooks R. Burdette “Rising Impact” New Board Member Award from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, an award presented annually to a Lawyers’ Committee Board member who has displayed innovative leadership and service in the cause of equal justice under law during the early part of their tenure on the Board.
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