Nina Morrison

Nina Rauh Morrison (born 1970) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. As part of her work for the Innocence Project, she had been lead or co-counsel in cases that have freed more than 30 wrongly convicted people from prison and death row.

Education

Morrison was born in 1970 in New York City. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1992 and a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 1998.

Career

From 1992 to 1995, Morrison was an investigator with the California appellate projects, which represents California's death row inmates in post-conviction proceedings.

Morrison began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998 to 1999. She was then an associate at Emery, Celli, Brinckerhoff & Abady from 1999 to 2001 focusing on civil rights law.

She joined the Innocence Project in 2002, where she served as executive director until 2004, leading the organization's transition from a law school clinic to an independent nonprofit organization. On February 16, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her hearing, Morrison was questioned by several Republican senators over her understanding of criminal statutes and her past support for progressive prosecutors. On March 10, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On May 24, 2022, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 50–41 vote. On June 8, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by a 53–46 vote. She received her judicial commission on August 11, 2022.

Since receiving her judicial commission, Morrison has been three times reversed or stayed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in criminal cases, including United States v. Burvick, No. 25-351 (2d Cir. July 31, 2026), United States v. Garnes, 102 F.4th 628 (2d Cir. 2024), and United States v. Johnston, No. 23-1277, Dkt. No. 18 (2d Cir. Sept. 19, 2023).

Personal life Morrison's father, Alan Morrison, is a lawyer and academic has been the Public Interest Dean of the George Washington University Law School since 2009. She and her wife, surgeon Dr. Carina Biggs, were married on July 29th, 2011. Morrison is the second openly LGBTQ judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.