Eduardo C. Robreno (born 1945) is a former
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
of the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the first
Cuban-American to be appointed as a federal judge.
Education
Robreno received his
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 years ...
degree from
Westfield State College in 1967, a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
from
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...
in 1969 and his
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from
Rutgers School of Law–Camden in 1978. He served as an attorney for the Antitrust Division of the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, from 1978 to 1981. He was in private practice in Philadelphia from 1981 to 1992. He was a lecturer at Rutgers School of Law from 1992 to 1996.
Federal judicial service
Robreno was nominated by President
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
on November 26, 1991, to a seat vacated by Judge
Louis H. Pollak
Louis Heilprin Pollak (December 7, 1922 – May 8, 2012) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He served on the faculty of Yale Law School and was dean from 1965 to 1970, ...
. He was confirmed by 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 ...
on June 26, 1992, and received commission on June 30, 1992. He took the oath of office and commenced service on July 27, 1992. He took
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
on August 31, 2013. He retired from active service on August 31, 2023.
Multidistrict litigation
Robreno was the third judge to manage the massive
multidistrict litigation of over 10,000 federal
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
claims. These claims were all individually transferred over nearly two decades from local state courts on a variety of grounds, and Robreno has been praised for allowing many cases to go forward and have other dormant cases dismissed.
See also
*
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Pennsylvania
This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Pennsylvania. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their sta ...
*
*
List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists
References
Sources
*
Eduardo C. Robrenovia
FindLaw
FindLaw is a business of Thomson Reuters that provides online legal information and online marketing services for law firms. FindLaw was created by Stacy Stern, Martin Roscheisen, and Tim Stanley in 1995, and was acquired by Thomson West in 2001. ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robreno, Eduardo C.
1945 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
American judges of Cuban descent
Cuban emigrants to the United States
Hispanic and Latino American judges
Hispanic and Latino American lawyers
Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania state court judges
Rutgers School of Law–Camden alumni
United States Department of Justice lawyers
United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush
University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni
Westfield State University alumni