The judge presiding over the Ghislaine Maxwell trial is a former Obama White House aide who has ruled on cases involving Elon Musk and Harvey Weinstein

• US District Court Judge Alison Nathan is presiding over Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial.
• Nathan was first appointed as a judge by then-President Barack Obama in 2011.

Over several hours last week, an accuser named Carolyn testified that Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her on more than 100 occasions, beginning when she was 14 years old, and that Ghislaine Maxwell set up her meetings with the financier and participated in some of the abuse.

Maxwell's attorneys grilled Carolyn over every tiny detail of her testimony, drawing out perceived discrepancies in her story. The prosecutors tried to slow down the barrage, shouting "Objection!" to several of the questions. Maxwell's attorneys had also objected to some of the prosecutors' questioning, trying to limit the scope of what Carolyn — who testified using only her first name — could tell jurors.

After court ended that day, US District Judge Alison J. Nathan admonished both sides.

"This has gotten a little out of hand," Nathan said, adding: "No more communicating to the witnesses or the jury via objections. Understood?"

Jurors will look at the evidence and ultimately decide whether Maxwell is found guilty of sex-trafficking, but Nathan is the referee, deciding what evidence they're allowed to look at. And it's clear that she has no patience for drama.

Maxwell's trial is the most high-profile case Nathan has presided over to date. So far, she's been evenhanded and restrained on the bench.

Prosecutors have accused Maxwell of sex-trafficking girls with Epstein, sexually abusing them herself, and lying about her actions in a deposition. She's pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Nathan will soon be up for a promotion

As Nathan presides over the trial, she is also preparing for a confirmation vote. President Joe Biden recently selected her for a promotion to the US Court Appeals for the Second Circuit — just one step away from the Supreme Court.

If confirmed, Nathan would be the second openly LGBTQ woman to serve on any federal circuit court, after Second Circuit Judge Beth Robinson, who was also nominated by Biden and confirmed to her position in November. Nathan and her partner, law professor Meg Satterthwaite, have twin sons, according to The Advocate.

Nathan first became a judge in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama nominated her to serve in the Southern District of New York. At the time of her nomination, Nathan was working as special counsel to the solicitor general of New York, a job she was appointed to by then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Nathan's nomination was largely unopposed until conservative groups staged last-minute challenges, The Advocate reported at the time. The groups charged that Nathan didn't have the American Bar Association rating to be a judge. An ABA panel gave Nathan mostly "qualified" as opposed to "well qualified" ratings, with a minority saying she was "unqualified," according to Gay City News.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who put Nathan forward for the job, defended her. Schumer said Nathan's lower rating had more to do with her young age, the outlets reported, and pointed out that it hadn't been a problem when 33 of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees with identical ratings were confirmed.

Sources told The Advocate that Concerned Women for America's Legislative Action Committee also sent a letter to senators, saying Nathan's "political activism" called into question "her impartiality and judicial temperament." They took issue with Nathan's serving on an LGBTQ issues policy committee on the Obama campaign, and for working pro bono for clients who tried to challenge the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gay servicemembers. Additionally, Nathan has written extensively on the death penalty and lethal injection methods, some of which she wrote in 2008 could be "needlessly cruel."

Despite the 11th hour challenge, Nathan was ultimately confirmed by a narrow 48-44 vote.

From private practice to the Obama White House

Leading up to her nomination to the federal judiciary, Nathan's career had progressed from private practice, to academia, and then government work.

After graduating from Cornell Law School in 2000, she spent two years in prestigious clerkships, including for former Associate Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. From there, she entered private practice at the elite law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr — the corporate home of the likes of Robert Mueller and former US Senator Ken Salazar — where she specialized in "complex federal litigation and constitutional law," according to the questionnaire she filled out when she was nominated to be a judge in 2011.

It was while on a four-month leave from WilmerHale in 2004 that Nathan got some of her first political work, serving as a volunteer legal advisor for John Kerry's failed presidential bid. In 2006, Nathan entered academia, teaching for two years at Fordham University School of Law, and then another year at New York University School of Law.

After she served as a volunteer voter protection advisor on the Obama campaign in 2008, Obama appointed Nathan to serve as his special assistant and an associate White House counsel, where she worked for a year before returning to New York with her family to join the Solicitor General's office in 2010.

Nathan shut down a request from Harvey Weinstein

Since becoming a judge, Nathan has presided over some other highly publicized cases, including shutting down Harvey Weinstein's attempts to get an emergency appeal in 2019, according to the Associated Press.

Weinstein's lawyers made the motion in connection to a civil lawsuit filed by a woman who said Weinstein sexually assaulted her after encouraging her to meet him in Cannes, France, so he could watch her demo reel. Weinstein's lawyers argued that a previous judge in the case, who later died, made a mistake in categorizing the incident as sex trafficking, and said the case should immediately move to appeal in the Second Circuit Court.

But Nathan sided with the former judge, saying his ruling was "careful and convincing." The accuser's case could move forward, she ruled, while Weinstein had to submit to a slower appeals process.

Nathan forced Elon Musk to meet with the SEC

Prior to the Maxwell trial, perhaps Nathan's most high-profile case involved billionaire Elon Musk. In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission started investigating allegations that Musk misled investors by tweeting about a potential buyout of his company. Musk settled the case for $20 million and agreed to have his statements overseen by Tesla lawyers.

Just four months later, the SEC accused Musk of violating the agreement when he tweeted about how many cars Tesla planned to produce in 2019.

Nathan ordered Musk to meet with the SEC for at least an hour to resolve the issue, after which the two parties came up with a new agreement that specified which financial milestones and other events Musk couldn't tweet about.

At the time, Musk said he had "great respect for Judge Nathan."