Nancy Abudu

On December 23, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Abudu to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On January 10, 2022, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Abudu to the seat vacated by Judge Beverly B. Martin, who retired on September 30, 2021. On April 27, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On May 26, 2022, the Judiciary Committee deadlocked on her nomination by a 11–11 vote, which meant the Senate would need to vote on a motion to discharge her nomination from committee. On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate; she was renominated later the same day. Her nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If confirmed, Abudu would be the first African-American woman to sit on the Eleventh Circuit, which covers Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

In 2017, Abudu was co-counsel for The Gainesville Woman Care LLC in a case against the state of Florida. They challenged the 2015 amendment to Florida's informed consent law for termination of pregnancies that created a 24–hour waiting period.

In 2016, Abudu was co-counsel for The League of Women Voters of Florida in a lawsuit, claiming that the congressional redistricting plan adopted by the Florida Legislature violated Article III, Section 20 of the Florida Constitution, by “favoring the Republican Party and its incumbents.” Article III, Section 20 was added to the Florida Constitution on November 2, 2010, following the general election and provides in subsection (a) that "[n]o apportionment plan or individual district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent...."

In 2009, Abudu was co-counsel for Debra L. Harvey and Catherine M. Beddard who challenged Arizona's felon-restoration statute. Arizona's Constitution provides: "No person who is adjudicated an incapacitated person shall be qualified to vote at any election, nor shall any person convicted of treason or felony, be qualified to vote at any election unless restored to civil rights." The plaintiffs brought suits challenging Arizona's disenfranchisement scheme, arguing the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

From 1999 to 2001, Abudu was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. From 2002 to 2004, she served as a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. From 2005 to 2013, she was a staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project. From 2013 to 2019, she was the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. During her time with the ACLU, Abudu specialized in voting rights law. Since 2019, she has worked as the deputy legal director and interim director for strategic litigation at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Abudu was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, the daughter of immigrants from Ghana. After graduating from Mercersburg Academy in 1992, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1996 and a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School in 1999.

Nancy Gbana Abudu (born 1974) is an American lawyer from Georgia. She is a nominee to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.