Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that had become vacant with the decision by Abner Mikva to retire from the bench on September 19, 1994, to become White House counsel. However, Clinton feared a difficult confirmation battle, later successfully nominating Merrick Garland to the seat. In 1995, Clinton mulled nominating Edelman to the federal district court in Washington D.C., but in August 1995, abandoned that possibility as well. In September 1996, Edelman resigned from the Clinton administration in protest of Clinton signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. According to Edelman, the 1996 welfare reform law destroyed the safety net. Later career Edelman has served as an associate dean of the Georgetown University Law Center, the president of the board of New Israel Fund, from June 2005 to June 2008. Edelman served on the board of the Center for Community Change, the Public Welfare Foundation, Americans for Peace Now, the Center for Law and Social Policy and the American Constitution Society, among others. In 1990, Edelman was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board. He currently serves as chair of the seventeen-member Access to Justice Commission for the District of Columbia, a panel studying ways to provide access to civil legal representation for those who cannot afford it. Personal life Edelman is married to Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund and the first black woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi. They have three sons: Joshua, Jonah and Ezra. Honors Former United States–Japan Leadership Program Fellow Former J. Skelly Wright Memorial Fellow at Yale Law School Selected bibliography Books Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America (The New Press, 2017). So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America (The New Press, 2012). Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men. With Harry JHolzer and Paul Offner. (Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 2006). Contributor, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development (Jacqueline Eccles & Jennifer Appleton Gootman eds., Natl Acad. Press 2002). The Future of Social Insurance: Incremental Action or Fundamental Reform? (Peter B. Edelman et al. eds., Nat'l Acad. Soc. Ins. 2002). Searching for America's Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope (Houghton Mifflin Co. 2001, Georgetown University Press 2003). Adolescence and Poverty: Challenge for the 1990s (Peter B. Edelman & Joyce Ladner eds., Center for National Policy Press 1991). And Beryl A. Radin, Serving Children and Families Effectively: