September 30. On this date in 1928, Dorothy Wright Nelson, who became a Senior Circuit Judge of the Ninth Circuit, Dean of the School of Law at the University of Southern California, and a member of the NSA of the U.S. from 1969 to 2009, was born in San Pedro, California.

 

September 30. On this date in 1928, Dorothy Wright Nelson, who became a Senior Circuit Judge of the Ninth Circuit, Dean of the School of Law at the University of Southern California, and a member of the NSA of the U.S. from 1969 to 2009, was born in San Pedro, California.

Dorothy Wright Nelson was born in San Pedro, California, on September 30, 1928. Wright received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1950, and the same year she married James Nelson, a longtime Los Angeles Municipal Court judge. The couple became Baháʼís in 1954 following a suggestion to explore the religion from Donald Barrett, and eventually had two children, a daughter, Lorna, and a son, Frank.

Dorothy Wright Nelson served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. from 1969 to 2009, and James Nelson served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. from 1977 to 1999.

She received a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law in 1953, and a Master of Laws from the USC Gould School of Law in 1956. She was a research associate fellow at the Gould School of Law from 1953 to 1956. She was in private practice in Los Angeles, California from 1954 to 1957. She was a member of the faculty of the Gould School of Law from 1957 to 1980, an instructor from 1957 to 1958, an assistant professor from 1958 to 1961, an associate professor from 1961 to 1967, and associate dean from 1965 to 1967. She was an interim dean from 1967 to 1969 and because of her achievement she was named Woman of the Year by Time magazine. She was a professor from 1967 to 1980. She was a dean from 1969 to 1980 and adjunct professor of law at the Gould School of Law from 1980.In 1973 there was discussion she might be nominated to the US Supreme Court in the news. In 1989, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree from Whittier College.

Nelson was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on September 28, 1979, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 19, 1979, and received her commission on December 20, 1979. She assumed senior status on January 1, 1995.