Adrienne Nelson

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Adrienne Nelson

| image = Adrienne C. Nelson.png

| office = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon

| term_start = February 23, 2023

| term_end =

| appointer = Joe Biden

| predecessor = Michael W. Mosman

| successor =

| office1 = Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court

| appointer1 = Kate Brown

| term_start1 = January 2, 2018

| term_end1 = February 23, 2023

| predecessor1 = Jack Landau

| successor1 = Aruna Masih

| birth_name = Adrienne Camille Nelson

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1967}}

| birth_place = Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = University of Arkansas (BA)
University of Texas at Austin (JD)

}}

Adrienne Camille Nelson (born 1967){{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Nelson%20SJQ%20Public%20Final.pdf|title=Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|access-date=October 9, 2022}} is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon since 2023. She previously served as a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 2018 to 2023 and as a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court from 2006 to 2018.{{cite news|last=Woodworth|first=Whitney|date=January 2, 2018|title=First African-American, Adrienne Nelson, appointed to Oregon Supreme Court|url=http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2018/01/02/gov-kate-brown-appoints-adrienne-nelson-first-african-american-supreme-court-judge-oregon-supreme-co/998191001/|work=Statesman Journal|location=Salem, Oregon|access-date=January 2, 2018 }}

Early life and education

Nelson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1967, and grew up in southwestern Arkansas.{{cite web |url=https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/mental_physical_disability/bios/nelson_a.authcheckdam.pdf |title=Biography: Adrienne Nelson |author= |date=2017 |website=ABA Commission on Disability Rights |publisher=American Bar Association |access-date=January 2, 2018 |quote= |archive-date=January 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103135248/https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/mental_physical_disability/bios/nelson_a.authcheckdam.pdf |url-status=dead }} She graduated from Gurdon High School in Gurdon, Arkansas, in 1985.{{cite news |last=Dawn |first=Eden |date=September 13, 2017 |title=Meet Adrienne Nelson, the Second Black Female Judge in Oregon History |url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2017/9/13/meet-adrienne-nelson-the-second-black-female-judge-in-oregon-history |work=Portland Monthly |location=Portland, Oregon |access-date=January 2, 2018 }} Nelson's mother successfully sued her school district to allow Nelson to be valedictorian after her high school initially named a white student with a lower GPA to be valedictorian instead.{{cite web |url=http://www.oregon.gov/newsroom/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?newsid=2493 |title=Governor Brown Appoints Adrienne Nelson to Oregon Supreme Court |author= |date=January 2, 2018 |website=Governor's Office Newsroom |publisher=State of Oregon |access-date=January 2, 2018 |quote=}}

Nelson graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in English literature and criminal justice.{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/nelson-adrienne-c-1967/|title=Adrienne C. Nelson (1967- )|last=Zhong|first=Michelle|date=2018-05-20|website=Black Past|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526054814/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/nelson-adrienne-c-1967/ |archive-date=2020-05-26 |access-date=2020-03-13}} She then attended the University of Texas School of Law, graduating in 1993 with a Juris Doctor.{{cite web |url=https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/cfDetail.do?page=search&cfRsn=12472 |title=Candidate Information 2012 |last=Brown |first=Kate |date=January 27, 2012 |website=Oregon Secretary of State |publisher=State of Oregon |access-date=January 2, 2018 |page=}}{{cite news |last=Lewton |first=Michael |date=July 2006 |title=Judge Adrienne Nelson |url=https://www.mbabar.org/Resources/AdrienneNelson.html |work=Multnomah Lawyer |location=Portland, Oregon |access-date=January 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103133654/https://www.mbabar.org/Resources/AdrienneNelson.html |archive-date=January 3, 2018 |url-status=dead }}

Legal career

Nelson moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1993, to be closer to her mother, who had previously relocated to the state. Nelson was a contract analyst for an insurance company for two years. She then worked as an attorney in private practice in Portland as a public defender,{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Cheryl |date=July 14, 2022 |title=Biden's Flurry of Judicial Nominations Continues With a Third Batch in One Week |work=The National Law Journal |url=https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2022/07/14/bidens-flurry-of-judicial-nominations-continues-with-a-third-batch-in-one-week/?slreturn=20220615163403 |access-date=July 15, 2022}} with Multnomah Defenders Inc, a non-profit public interest law firm, from 1996 to 1999, and for the law firm Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan LLP from 1999 to 2004. Nelson was a senior attorney in Student Legal and Mediation Services for Portland State University from 2004 to 2006. Nelson served as an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School from 2002 to 2005.

Nelson has been a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and the ABA Commission on Disability Rights. She received the Oregon Women Lawyers (OWLs) Judge Mercedes Deiz Award in 2003, and the Oregon State Bar President's Public Service Award in 2007.{{dead link|date=September 2022}} She has also served as president of the Multnomah Bar Foundation and president of the Oregon State Bar Foundation Board.{{cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/june2014/articles/eliot_circular/new_faces.html |title=New Faces |author= |date=June 2014 |website=Reed magazine |publisher=Reed College |access-date=January 2, 2018 |quote=}}

In 2021, a school in Happy Valley, Oregon was named after Nelson.{{Cite web |date=September 7, 2021 |title=Adrienne C. Nelson High School |url=https://anhs.nclack.k12.or.us/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=anhs.nclack.k12.or.us |language=en-US}}

Judicial service

= Oregon circuit court =

Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed Nelson as a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court in February 2006, to replace Sidney Galton. She was re-elected to a new six-year term in 2012.{{cite web |url=http://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/RecordView/6873711 |title=Official Results, May 15, 2012, Primary Election |last=Brown |first=Kate |date=May 2012 |website=Oregon Secretary of State |publisher=State of Oregon |access-date=January 2, 2018 |page=55}}

= Oregon Supreme Court =

Governor Kate Brown appointed Nelson to the Oregon Supreme Court in January 2018, to replace justice Jack Landau, who retired on December 31, 2017. Nelson's term on the Supreme Court ended in January 2019, but she was elected to a full six year term in November 2018.{{cite web |title=Oregon Supreme Court |url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/diversity-inclusion/articles/2019/winter2019-justice-adrienne-nelson-blazes-trails-diversity/ |access-date=10 February 2019 |date=October 9, 2018}}

Nelson is the first African-American to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court, or on any state appellate court in Oregon.

= United States district court =

On July 14, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Nelson to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.{{Cite press release|title=President Biden Names Twenty-Third Round of Judicial Nominees|date=July 14, 2022|publisher=The White House|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/14/president-biden-names-twenty-third-round-of-judicial-nominees/|access-date=July 14, 2022}} {{PD-notice}} President Biden nominated Nelson to the seat vacated by Judge Michael W. Mosman, who assumed senior status on December 27, 2021.{{Cite web|date=July 14, 2022|title=PN2381 - Nomination of Adrienne C. Nelson for The Judiciary, 117th Congress (2021-2022)|url=http://www.congress.gov/|access-date=July 15, 2022|website=www.congress.gov}} On October 12, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{Cite web|title=Nominations|date=October 9, 2022|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/10/12/2022/nominations}} On December 1, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/EBM%20Results%20-%202022-12-011.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 1, 2022|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|accessdate=December 1, 2022}} 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.{{Cite press release|title=Nominations Sent to the Senate|date=January 3, 2023|publisher=The White House|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/03/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-91/}} On February 2, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/EBM%20Results%20-%202023-02-021.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting – February 2, 2023|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|accessdate=February 2, 2023}} On February 14, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 53–44 vote.{{Cite web|date=February 14, 2023|title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Adrienne C. Nelson to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Oregon)|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00016.htm|access-date=February 14, 2023|website=United States Senate}} On February 15, 2023, she was confirmed by a 52–46 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00017.htm|title=On the Nomination (Confirmation: Adrienne C. Nelson, of Oregon, to be United States District Judge for the District of Oregon)|website=United States Senate|date=February 15, 2023|access-date=February 15, 2023}} She received her judicial commission on February 23, 2023.{{FJC Bio|nid=13263786|inline=yes}} She is the first African-American woman to serve on the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.{{Cite web|last=Bernstein|first=Maxine|date=July 14, 2022|title=Oregon Supreme Court Justice Adrienne Nelson nominated to federal bench|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/07/oregon-supreme-court-justice-adrienne-nelson-nominated-to-federal-bench.html|access-date=July 15, 2022|website=oregonlive|language=en}}

= Notable cases =

On December 10, 2024, Nelson issued an injunction blocking a merge between Kroger and Albertsons. The FTC seeks to block the merge as a violation of antitrust law, arguing that a merge between the two companies would stifle competition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/krogers-albertsons-merger-blocked/|title=Kroger's $24.6 billion purchase of Albertsons halted by federal judge|website=CBS News|date=December 11, 2024|access-date=December 23, 2024}}{{Cite web|url=https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rvoehkLNrWPE/v0|title=FTC v. Kroger Company and Albertsons Company|website=assets.bwbx.io|date=December 10, 2024|access-date=December 23, 2024}}