From 2008 to 2022, Traum was a professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and she worked as the director of the Appellate Clinic from 2009 to 2022. She also served as the associate dean for experiential legal education from 2013 to 2015.[1] She served as special counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the United States Department of Justice from 2015 to 2016.[2]
Federal judicial service
Expired nomination to district court under Obama
On April 28, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Traum to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, to the seat vacated by Judge Robert Clive Jones, who assumed senior status on February 1, 2016. Her nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.[3]
Renomination to district court under Biden
On November 3, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Traum to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.[2][4] On December 15, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[5] The confirmation hearings were particularly contentious when Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana asked her nine separate times whether criminal misbehavior should be forgiven in the name of social justice, without receiving a direct yes or no response.[6] On January 3, 2022, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate;[7] she was later renominated the same day.[8] On January 20, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[9] On March 16, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 52–45 vote.[10] On March 23, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by a 49–47 vote.[11] She received her judicial commission on April 7, 2022.[12]