U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is a United States district court, a federal trial court where most federal civil and criminal cases are first heard. It lies within the Ninth Circuit, which reviews its decisions on appeal. This page lists every judge to serve on the court, current and former, with who appointed them and whom they succeeded.
| Judge | Appointed by | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Thelton Eugene Henderson | Carter (D) | 1980 |
| Saundra Brown Armstrong | Bush (R) | 1991 |
| Claudia Ann Wilken | Clinton (D) | 1993 |
| Maxine M. Chesney | Clinton (D) | 1995 |
| Susan Yvonne Illston | Clinton (D) | 1995 |
| Charles R. Breyer | Clinton (D) | 1997 |
| William Haskell Alsup | Clinton (D) | 1999 |
| Phyllis Jean Hamilton | Clinton (D) | 2000 |
| Jeffrey Steven White | Bush (R) | 2002 |
| Richard G. Seeborg | Obama (D) | 2010 |
| Edward Milton Chen | Obama (D) | 2011 |
| Edward John Davila | Obama (D) | 2011 |
| Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers | Obama (D) | 2011 |
| William Horsley Orrick III | Obama (D) | 2013 |
| Jon Steven Tigar | Obama (D) | 2013 |
| Vince Girdhari Chhabria | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| James Donato | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| Beth Labson Freeman | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| Haywood Stirling Gilliam Jr. | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| Jacqueline Scott Corley | Biden (D) | 2022 |
| Trina Lynn Thompson | Biden (D) | 2022 |
| Rita Faye Lin | Biden (D) | 2023 |
| Araceli Martinez-Olguin | Biden (D) | 2023 |
| Patrick Casey Pitts | Biden (D) | 2023 |
| Eumi Kim Lee | Biden (D) | 2024 |
| Noël Wise | Biden (D) | 2024 |
How a judge gets here. Each judge is nominated by a president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, then holds a numbered seat, for life, until they take senior status, or until they leave the bench. Open any judge to see who appointed them, how the Senate voted, and whom they succeeded, a chain that runs back to 1851.
Source: FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.