Moran received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1952.
He was a law clerk for Judge J. Edward Lumbard of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1957 to 1958.
He entered private practice in Chicago, Illinois, in 1958, continuing until his appointment to the federal bench in 1979.
He served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967 and as a member of the Evanston City Council from 1971 to 1975.
He remained a senior judge until his death of esophageal cancer on April 21, 2009, at his home in Evanston.