Beth Ann Labson Freeman (born November 21, 1953) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Biography

Freeman was born Beth Ann Labson in 1953, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in 1976 from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. She received a Juris Doctor in 1979 from Harvard Law School. From 1979 to 1981, she worked at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson and from 1981 to 1983, she worked at Lasky, Haas, Cohler and Munter. From 1983 to 2001, she served as deputy county counsel at the

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

Counsel's Office. From 1987 to the present, she has been affiliated with Peninsula Temple Beth El, a

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

synagogue where, prior to 2012, she served the community in various official capacities. From 2001 to 2014, she served as a judge on the

San Mateo County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo is the California superior court with jurisdiction over San Mateo County. History San Mateo County was created by exclusion from the City and County of San Francisco when it was incorporated i ...

, serving as assistant presiding judge from 2009 to 2010 and

Presiding Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

from 2011 to 2012. As a

county judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

, she presided over a broad array of civil and criminal matters.

Federal judicial service

On June 20, 2013, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

nominated Freeman to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, to a new seat created on October 3, 2011, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 133(b)(1), following the appointment of

Jeremy Fogel Jeremy Don Fogel (born September 17, 1949)Federal Judicial Center. On October 31, 2013, the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

reported Freeman's nomination to the full Senate. After the first session of the 113th Congress ended, Freeman's nomination was returned to President Obama, who renominated Freeman in January 2014. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported Freeman's nomination to the full Senate on January 16, 2014. On February 12, 2014, Senate Majority Leader

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...

filed for

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ' ...

on Freeman's nomination. On February 25, 2014, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

invoked cloture on Freeman's nomination by a 56–42 vote, with one senator voting present. Freeman's nomination was confirmed later that day by a 91–7 vote. Freeman received her judicial commission on February 26, 2014.

Notable cases

On December 22, 2020, Judge Freeman handed down a nationwide injunction blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump's

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

barring federal contractors from training employees on various concepts rooted in critical race theory, finding the measure cuts into the constitutional freedoms of LGBTQ

advocacy groups Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

who filed a legal challenge. In her ruling, Judge Freeman wrote that the administration's directive to federal agencies to cancel training contracts involving “critical race theory,” “white privilege,” “intersectionality,” “systemic racism,” “positionality,” “racial humility,” and “unconscious bias” was likely unconstitutional. On September 30, 2022, Judge Freeman issued a partial dismissal on two lawsuits (consolidated into one) against San Jose's gun control ordinance (which was enacted in response to the

2021 San Jose shooting On May 26, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) rail yard in San Jose, California, United States. A gunman killed nine people and then committed suicide, for a total of ten deaths. The gunman w ...

) with leave to amend in part and without leave to amend in part. On July 13, 2023, she dismissed the consolidated lawsuit again with leave to amend in part and without leave to amend in part.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Beth Labson 1953 births Living people American women lawyers American lawyers California lawyers California state court judges Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American government officials Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Law in the San Francisco Bay Area Lawyers from Washington, D.C. United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama University of California, Berkeley alumni 21st-century American judges People associated with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson 21st-century American women judges

Biography

Federal judicial service

Notable cases

See also

References

External links