Araceli Martínez-Olguín (born 1977) is a Mexican-American lawyer from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

who serves as 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. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

Education

Martínez-Olguín received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from the

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of co ...

in 1999 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

UC Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was ...

in 2004.

Career

From 2004 to 2006, Martínez-Olguín served as a

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

for Judge

David Briones David Briones (born February 26, 1943) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. Education and career Born in El Paso, Texas, Briones was in the United States Army from 1964 t ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Texas The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has ...

. From 2016 to 2017, she was an attorney for the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

Office for Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

. From 2017 to 2018, she served as the managing attorney at the Immigrants' Rights Project at Community Legal Services in

East Palo Alto, California East Palo Alto ( ; abbreviated E.P.A.) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 30,034. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the c ...

. From 2018 to 2023, she was the supervising attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. She has also worked at the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

and at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center. Martínez-Olguín was a member of the

American Constitution Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

Lawyer Chapter's board of directors from 2015 to 2022.

Federal judicial service

On July 29, 2022, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

announced his intent to nominate Martínez-Olguín to serve as a

of the

. On August 1, 2022, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Martínez-Olguín to the seat vacated by Judge

Jeffrey White Jeffrey Steven White (born September 2, 1945) is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Early life, education, and career Bor ...

, who assumed senior status on February 1, 2021. On September 21, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On December 1, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

; she was renominated later the same day. On February 2, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote. On February 28, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 48–47 vote. Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 49–48 vote, with the Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

voting in the affirmative. She received her judicial commission on March 3, 2023. She is the second Latina to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

References

External links

* 1977 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American women lawyers American Civil Liberties Union people American judges of Mexican descent American lawyers of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American judges Hispanic and Latino American lawyers Hispanic and Latino American teachers Immigration lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Mexican emigrants to the United States Lawyers from Mexico City Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni Schoolteachers from California UC Berkeley School of Law alumni United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden {{US-federal-judge-stub

Education

Career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links