Michael Walter Fitzgerald (born July 11, 1959) 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 Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, ...

Early life and education

Fitzgerald was born in Los Angeles, California, on July 11, 1959. He earned an Artium Baccalaureus from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from the

University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...

in 1985. From 1985 to 1986, Fitzgerald served as a law clerk for Judge Irving Kaufman of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...

Professional career

From 1988 until 1991, Fitzgerald was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California. Fitzgerald worked at Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe from 1991 to 1995 and at the Law Offices of Robert L. Corbin from 1995 to 1998. From 1998, until his appointment to the Federal bench, Fitzgerald was part of a small Los Angeles law firm, Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey, which handles white collar criminal defense and business litigation.

Federal judicial service

On July 20, 2011, President Obama nominated Fitzgerald to the judicial seat on the

vacated by Howard Matz. Fitzgerald is the fourth openly gay candidate nominated by Obama to a federal judgeship, after Edward DuMont, J. Paul Oetken, and

Alison J. Nathan Alison Julie Nathan (born June 18, 1972) is an American lawyer who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 2022. She served as a United States district judge of the United Sta ...

. He received a hearing before 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 ...

on October 4, 2011, and the committee reported his nomination to the floor of the Senate on November 3, 2011, his nomination being placed on the Senate Executive Calendar that same day. On March 15, 2012, the Senate confirmed Fitzgerald by a 91–6 vote. He received his commission the same day. In February 2018, Fitzgerald's ruling in Sean Hall and Nathan Butler's copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift received international attention.

Personal

Fitzgerald is openly gay and was the first openly LGBT person to be appointed to the federal bench in California.

References

External links