[2][1] The two became lifelong friends, and then-Senator Clinton testified in favor of Oberly's judicial nomination in the United States Senate.

[1] After graduating from high school in 1967, Oberly attended Vassar College for two years before switching to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

After law school she clerked for Donald P. Lay, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, who would later officiate her wedding to Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Haynes Johnson.

[3] Oberly's legal career began at the United States Department of Justice, where she worked first at the Land and Natural Resources Division and later in the Office of the Solicitor General.

[1] In 2008, Oberly was nominated to the D.C. Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush.