A Democratic Socialist Will Soon Be Sworn in as Judge in Las Vegas
Public defender and racial justice organizer Erika Ballou won a Las Vegas judgeship with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America. Next month, she’ll take the bench with the aim of upending the criminal justice status quo.
Erika Ballou, then a deputy public defender in Clark County, Nev., speaks with colleagues outside of a courtroom Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in Las Vegas. That year, Ballou sparked a protest in a Las Vegas courtroom where she refused on Tuesday to remove a “Black Lives Matter” button from her blouse despite a judge’s request not to demonstrate what he called “political speech.” (AP Photo/John Locher)
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) notched several high-profile wins at the ballot box this past November. But not all of those wins made national headlines. One such victory: the election of Las Vegas DSA-endorsed lawyer Erika Ballou to the district court of Clark County, Nevada.
Ballou is a career public defender, a DSA member, and a longtime activist with groups like Planned Parenthood and the National Lawyers Guild. Come next month, she will sit on the bench of the Clark County 8th Judicial District Court, the court system responsible for more than two million residents of the Las Vegas metro area.
Ballou was one of seven public defenders who ran for judgeships in Clark County this cycle, in an effort to “balance the bench” from its traditional domination by prosecutors. All seven were victorious.
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