- Natasha Merle was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on June 21, 2023.
- Previously, she was the Deputy Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), where she has worked from 2016 and focused on promoting racial justice in the areas of criminal justice, voting rights, and education. She previously served as Senior Counsel, Assistant Counsel, and a Fried Frank Fellow at LDF.
- In 2016, Merle led LDF’s Prepare to Vote campaign, a non-partisan project aimed at boosting political participation.
- From 2011 to 2012, Merle was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona.
- From 2009 to 2011, Merle was a staff attorney at the Gulf Region Advocacy Center, which represents indigent people charged with capital crimes in the state courts of Texas and Louisiana.
- If confirmed, Merle would be the first Black woman who has previously been a public defender to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
- Merle received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and her J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 2008. She clerked for Judge Robert Carter of the Southern District of New York and Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York.
Confirmed