Tiffany Mae Cartwright (born 1985) is 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 Western District of Washington The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (in case citations, W.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays H ...

Early life and education

Cartwright was born in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

, and grew up in Kitsap County. She earned 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 years ...

from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 2007, where she was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

, and a

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 Stanford Law School in 2010, where she was a member of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. She was co-editor in chief of ''Stanford Law & Policy Review'' in 2009 and 2010. During law school, Cartwright worked at the federal public defender office in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and at 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 ...

Public Integrity In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

Unit. She also worked as a research assistant for Michael W. McConnell.

Career

From 2010 to 2012, Cartwright served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge Dana Fabe of the Alaska Supreme Court and for

Betty Binns Fletcher Betty Binns Fletcher (March 29, 1923October 22, 2012) was an American lawyer and judge. She served as a United States circuit judge of the San Francisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit between 1979 and 2012. Fletcher wa ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

. From 2012 to 2014, she was an associate at Jenner & Block in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 2014, she joined the law firm MacDonald Hoague & Bayless in

, became a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

in 2018 until she was commissioned as a federal judge.

Notable cases

In 2017, Cartwright represented the family of Leonard Thomas in connection with claims that he had been wrongfully killed by the

Lakewood Lakewood may refer to: Places Australia * Lakewood, Western Australia, an abandoned town in Western Australia Canada * Lakewood, Edmonton, Alberta * Lakewood Suburban Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Philippines * Lakewood, Zamboanga del S ...

police department. Following trial, a jury sided with Thomas and awarded Thomas's family $15 million in damages. In 2020, Cartwright represented the family of 17 year-old MiChance Dunlap-Gittens, who was killed by

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

police in a case of mistaken identity, and won a $2.25 million settlement. In 2021, Cartwright served as ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

'' Washington state counsel for the Campaign Legal Center in ''Aguilar v. Yakima County'', a case litigated under the Washington Voting Rights Act. Cartwright represented several exonerees: a group of men in

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

, known as The Fairbanks Four, who spent seventeen years in prison before their exoneration for murder in 2015; Paul Browning, a capital defendant, obtaining his release in 2019 after 33 years on Nevada's death row; and Rodney Wheeler, who was wrongfully accused of homicide and received a $500,000 settlement from King County in 2021.

Federal judicial service

On January 19, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Cartwright to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The nomination came as part of the Biden administration's larger push to nominate judges with diverse backgrounds and identities. President Biden nominated Cartwright to the seat vacated by Judge

Benjamin Settle Benjamin Hale Settle (born 1947) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Education and career Born in Olympia, Washington, Settle received a Bachelor of Arts degree from ...

, 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 January 1, 2020. At the time she was nominated she was President Biden's youngest judicial nominee, but between her initial nomination and confirmation she was surpassed by

Brad Garcia Bradley Nelson Garcia (born 1986) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was an official at the United States Department of Justice from 2022 to 2023. ...

( D.C. Cir.) and Jamar K. Walker ( E.D. Va.). On May 25, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On June 16, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. In addition to all Democrats on the committee, Cartwright received the support of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the Senate; she was renominated later the same day. On February 2, 2023, her nomination was reported out of the committee by an 11–9 vote. On July 11, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 49–42 vote. On July 12, 2023, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote. She received her judicial commission on July 18, 2023. She was sworn in on August 30, 2023.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Tiffany 1985 births Living people 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American women lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington People associated with Jenner & Block People from Lansing, Michigan Public defenders Stanford Law School alumni Stanford University alumni United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden Washington (state) lawyers