Elissa F. Cadish (born August 8, 1964) is an American lawyer who has served as a justice of the Nevada Supreme Court since 2019; she served as the chief justice from 2024 to 2025. She is a former nominee to be a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Nevada The United States District Court for the District of Nevada (in case citations, D. Nev.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Nevada. The court has locations in Las Vegas and Reno. Cases from the District of Nevada ...

Biography

Cadish received her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree, magna cum laude, from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1986. She received her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1989. She served as a law clerk to Judge Philip Martin Pro of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada from 1989 to 1990. From 1991 to 1995 she worked as an associate at the law firm of Jolley, Urga, Wirth & Woodbury. From 1995 to 2007 she worked at Hale, Lane, Peek, Dennison & Howard, first as an associate, becoming a shareholder in 2000. From 2007 to 2019 she served as a District Court Judge on the Eight Judicial District Court of Nevada, based in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Failed nomination to federal district court

On February 16, 2012, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Cadish to be a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. She would have replaced Judge Philip Martin Pro, who assumed senior status in 2011. Due to the fact that Senator Heller refused to sign and return his

blue slip A blue slip or blue-slipping is one of two different legislative procedures in the United States Congress. * Blue slip (U.S. Senate) is the slip on which the senators from the state of residence of a federal judicial nominee gives an opinion on the ...

for her nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee would not hold a hearing on her nomination and the Senate could not proceed on the nomination. Heller's opposition to her nomination and his invocation of "

senatorial courtesy Senatorial courtesy is a long-standing, unwritten, unofficial, and nonbinding constitutional convention in the U.S. describing the tendency of U.S. senators to support a Senate colleague opposing the appointment to federal office of a nominee f ...

" is due to a statement by Cadish indicating that she believed there was no individual right to keep and bear arms, a statement which was made in 2008, prior to Supreme Court decisions explicitly recognizing an individual right to keep and bear arms. On January 2, 2013, her nomination was returned to the Senate, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate. On January 3, 2013, she was renominated to the same office. On March 8, 2013, she announced that she had requested President Obama to withdraw her nomination. Five days later, Obama formally withdrew her nomination.

Nevada Supreme Court

Cadish announced she was running for Seat C in the November 2018 election. She won her seat defeating challenger Jerome T. Tao, 45.30% to 32.42% She replaced Michael Cherry who retired in 2019. She became chief justice on January 2, 2024.

References

, - 1964 births 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American women lawyers Justices of the Supreme Court of Nevada Living people Nevada Democrats Nevada lawyers Nevada state court judges University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States {{Nevada-state-judge-stub

Biography

Failed nomination to federal district court

Nevada Supreme Court

See also

References