Jeffrey Timo Miller (born January 14, 1943) is a
senior 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
.
Education and career
Born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, Miller 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 from the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
in 1964 and a
Juris Doctor from the
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...
in 1967. Miller was a deputy state attorney general of California from 1968 to 1987. He was a judge on the
San Diego County Superior Court from 1987 to 1997.
Federal judicial service
On January 7, 1997, Miller was nominated by President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
to a seat on the
vacated by
Gordon Thompson Jr.
Gordon Thompson Jr. (December 28, 1929 – July 5, 2015) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
Education and career
Born in San Diego, California, Thompson received a Ba ...
Miller 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 May 23, 1997, and received his commission on May 27, 1997. On June 6, 2010 he assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
.
Notable cases
During his tenure as a federal judge, Miller has handled some noteworthy cases.
In 2005 he presided over a corruption case against
San Diego City Councilmembers
Ralph Inzunza
Ralph Inzunza (born c. 1969) is a former city councilman from San Diego. He was elected in March 2001 to represent City Council District 8. He resigned in July 2005 along with Councilman Michael Zucchet after both were convicted on federal corrupt ...
and
Michael Zucchet
Michael J. Zucchet (born December 24, 1969) is an American Democratic politician, a former member of the San Diego City Council, and a former Deputy Mayor of San Diego. In 2005, he briefly served as the Acting Mayor of San Diego.
Early life and ...
. After the jury convicted both men and a co-defendant, Miller took the unusual step of overturning the jury verdict against Zucchet and acquitting him on most of the charges, saying the evidence against him was insufficient. The ruling was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2012 he heard the
wrongful death
Wrongful death claim is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are compensated for the harm, ...
civil suit in the case of the
crash of a U.S. Marine jet in 2008, which killed four people in a residential area in San Diego. Trying the case
without a jury, Miller awarded $17.8 million to the survivors.
In 2013 he presided over a case against four Somali immigrants who were accused of sending money to the terrorist group
al-Shabab. The case used information gathered by a secret
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...
(NSA) program of collecting telephone metadata. He sentenced the men to prison; his rulings regarding
the NSA's surveillance program were affirmed on appeal.
In November 2016, Miller successfully brokered settlement talks in three separate lawsuits against
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
alleging fraudulent practices by
Trump University.
References
Sources
*
1943 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
California state court judges
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Lawyers from New York City
Superior court judges in the United States
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
UCLA School of Law alumni
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