Ruth Bermudez Montenegro (née Ruth Parra Bermudez, born 1967) is an American lawyer who has served as a

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 Southern District of California The United States District Court for the Southern District of California (in case citations, S.D. Cal.) is a federal court in the Ninth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appe ...

since 2022. She served as a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the same court from 2018 to 2022.

Education

Montenegro received her

Associate of Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

, with honors, from

Imperial Valley College Imperial Valley College is a public community college in Imperial County, California. It was founded in 1962 and enrolls around 7,000 students per year. In April 2022, Lennor M. Johnson, Ed.D., was appointed president of the college. The main cam ...

in 1987, her

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 ...

, ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'', from

Clarion University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion, also known as PennWest Clarion, is a public university campus in Clarion, Pennsylvania. Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the institution was founded in 1867 and offers ...

in 1989 and her

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 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 ...

Career

Montenegro was previously an attorney at Horton, Knox, Carter & Foote, LLP in

El Centro El Centro (Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the largest city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban are ...

from 1993 to 2000. She then served as assistant superintendent for

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

and administrative services for the El Centro Elementary School District in

Imperial County Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

from 2002 to 2011 and served as director of human resources for the Imperial Community College District from 2000 to 2002. She was assistant county counsel for Imperial County from 2011 to 2012 and also served as a deputy county counsel IV in 2000.

Judicial career

From 2012 to 2013 and again from 2015 to 2018, Montenegro served as a judge on the Imperial County Superior Court in California. She served as the Imperial County Superior Court's Family Support Commissioner from 2013 to 2015.

Federal judicial service

United States magistrate judge tenure

She was appointed as a

for the

on August 15, 2018. Her service as a magistrate terminated on March 30, 2022 when she was commissioned as a district judge.

District court service

On November 3, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Montenegro to serve as a

of the

. President Biden nominated Montenegro to the seat vacated by Judge John A. Houston, who assumed

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 February 6, 2018. On December 15, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held 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, a ...

. On January 3, 2022, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of 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 ...

; she was later renominated the same day. On January 20, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 14–8 vote. On March 16, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 57–42 vote. On March 22, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by a 55–41 vote. She received her judicial commission on March 30, 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montenegro, Ruth Bermudez 1967 births Living people 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges California state court judges Clarion University of Pennsylvania alumni Hispanic and Latino American judges Hispanic and Latino American lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California People from Brawley, California Superior court judges in the United States UCLA School of Law alumni United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden United States magistrate judges