Christine Monta joined the Supreme Court & Appellate Program of the MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) in 2023.
Christine comes to MJC with extensive experience handling criminal and civil rights matters at the appellate level. As an appellate attorney at the D.C. Public Defender Service (PDS) — the nation’s premier public defender office — Christine briefed and argued dozens of appeals on behalf of accused and incarcerated persons, developing expertise in an array of constitutional, evidentiary, and substantive criminal law areas.
Following her time at PDS, Christine moved to the Appellate Section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, where she worked to enforce the nation’s civil rights laws in federal and state appellate courts around the country. There, Christine handled a wide range of civil rights issues, including access to justice, voting rights, gender discrimination, and ensuring that incarcerated persons have meaningful access to prison services under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Christine graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Harvard Law Review and received a best oralist award in the Ames Moot Court Competition. Following law school, Christine clerked for the late Honorable Stephen Reinhardt on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.