Pamela Karlan - Obama alum leading with PRIDE

Before joining the Obama administration, Pamela Karlan had already built an incredible legacy of activism and public service at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and on the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Pam was also an award-winning law professor. In 2013, she agreed to join the Administration and began as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2014. There, she was responsible for reviewing the Voting, Employment Litigation, and Immigrant and Employee Rights Sections. 

Prior to working for the DOJ, Pamela joined a case that would lay the foundation for historic changes in protections for LGBTQIA+ couples. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Windsor that Section 3 of the Defense Against Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional because it denied same-sex married couples the “equal liberty” protected by the Fifth Amendment. Pam played an integral role in the case at the Supreme Court. She recalled that “Edie was the perfect client. The team of lawyers and students I worked with became fast friends.  And once I joined the Administration, I had the privilege to work on the DOJ team that was helping to implement marriage equality within the federal government, which was a fascinating opportunity.” 

The ruling in United v. Windsor set the groundwork for Obergefell v. Hodges two years later, legalizing same-sex marriage across the nation. Pam had the privilege of working on the United States’s brief in support of marriage equality as a member of the DOJ team.

“Being in the courtroom to hear the Court announce Obergefell is something I will never forget. That afternoon, I went over to the EOB to celebrate with some of the lawyers on the team. Valerie Jarrett came by and told us to stick around because the White House was going to be lit up that evening in the rainbow colors. We stood around in the driveway and watched as the lights began to show. At one point, someone mentioned that people were proposing on the steps of the Supreme Court. So I decided I would propose to my partner Viola from out front at the White House. I did, and she said "Yes."