President Barack Obama has decided to nominate Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University law professor who has advocated for flexibility in the workplace and for expanded rights for gays and lesbians, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the White House said Monday.
Feldblum has taught at Georgetown since 1991, co-directing an initiative that promotes alternative work schedules and other flexibility initiatives. She also founded and directs the law school’s Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, a one-semester program that trains students to work on Capitol Hill and other legislative contexts.
She is a former legislative counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union’s AIDS Project, where she helped draft the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the White House said.
If confirmed by the Senate, Feldblum would fill one of five seats on the commission. The positions are full-time. In May, Obama announced Jacqueline Berrien, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as his choice for EEOC chair. Berrien is awaiting confirmation.
Feldblum has also been active in advocating for gays and lesbians. She opposed the Supreme Court’s majority decision in Rumsfeld v. FAIR (2006), which limited the ability of colleges and universities to restrict access to military recruiters. She agreed with arguments that said schools had a First Amendment right to protest the military’s exclusion of open gays and lesbians. She also authored a brief in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), in which the Court struck down state sodomy laws.
Feldblum (Barnard, Harvard Law) clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.
Chai Feldblum is also famous for her very popular and successful Federal Legislation clinic at Georgetown.
She's a highly respected friend & ally. As usual, I'm very proud of Chai and Georgetown (my law school alma mater).
Posted by: www.myspace.com/punkalternative | September 15, 2009 at 05:26 PM