Linda Coffee


Linda Nellene Coffee is an American attorney living in Dallas, Texas. Coffee is best known, along with Sarah Weddington, for arguing the precedent-setting United States Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade.

Education

Coffee earned a Bachelor of Arts in German from Rice University in 1965 followed by a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Texas in February 1968. She was licensed to practice in Texas three months later, in May 1968.

Personal

Coffee was born into a Southern Baptist family. She met her partner in winter 1983 in response to a personal ad.

Career

Once she graduated from law school she worked for the Texas Legislative Council. The Texas Legislative Council does research for the Texas legislature. Coffee was also a clerk for Sarah Hughes, who was a federal judge in Texas. Coffee was a member of the Women's Equity Action League, an organization working toward equal employment opportunities for women. She and Weddington agreed to take McCorvey's case to challenge Texas' anti-abortion law.
The Court's decision was ultimately handed down in January 1973, overturning Texas’ abortion law by a 7-2 majority and legalizing abortion within the first trimester of pregnancy. After Roe, Coffee worked on bankruptcy cases.

''Roe v. Wade''

Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington argued in favor of Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, and her right to have an abortion in the case Roe v Wade. Although Weddington is more well known for this case, Coffee was the one that came in contact with Norma McCorvey. This was a landmark decision because it enabled women to have an abortion in their first trimester and because it overturned current federal and state laws regarding abortion. It was argued that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion because of the Fourteenth Amendment. The challenged Texas law only permitted abortion only if it was medically necessary to save the life of the woman. Coffee came up with the name Jane Roe.