U.S. Southern District Court Judge and former Fordham Law faculty member, Deborah Batts, came in at number 31 on City & State New York’s 2019 Pride Power 100 list. The list honors New York’s most powerful members of the LGBTQ community.
Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1994, Batts became the first openly LGBTQ judge on the federal bench. In 1984, she joined the Fordham University School of Law as its first African American faculty member. She has presided over several high-profile cases, including a lawsuit against former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who was accused of failing to inform New Yorkers of the health risks of returning to their homes after the 9/11 attacks.
