Nina Morrison (judge)

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Nina Rauh Morrison (born 1970) is an American judge serving on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She was nominated by President Joe Biden and took office on August 11, 2022, replacing Dora Irizarry.

Morrison grew up in New York City, earning a BA from Yale in 1992 and a JD from NYU School of Law in 1998. She has a background in civil rights and wrongful-conviction work. She investigated death-row cases in California (1992–1995), clerked for Judge Pierre Leval (1998–1999), and practiced at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady (1999–2001). She joined the Innocence Project in 2002, becoming executive director until 2004 and later serving as senior litigation counsel. She helped lead cases that freed more than 30 wrongfully convicted people and was an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School (2002–2016).

Morrison also advised transition teams for Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner (2017) and Los Angeles DA George Gascón (2020). Her confirmation process included a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on February 16, 2022; a committee vote on March 10, 2022; cloture on May 24, 2022; and final confirmation on June 8, 2022. Since joining the bench, two of her criminal decisions have been reversed or stayed by the Second Circuit. Her father is Alan Morrison, a law professor at George Washington University, and she is married to Carina Biggs, a surgeon, since 2011. Morrison is the second openly LGBTQ judge on the EDNY.