Edgardo Ramos (born 1960) 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. 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 Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of the State of New York. Two of these are in New York Ci ...

Early life and education

Born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

, Ramos moved as a child with his mother and six siblings to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. He earned a

Bachelors 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 degree ...

in 1982 from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

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 ...

in 1987 from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Career

From 1987 until 1992, Ramos worked in private legal practice as an associate with

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is a white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm specializes in litigation and corporate practices, particularly mergers and acquisitions and private equity, with approximately 1,500 attorneys in 1 ...

. From 1992 until 2002, he was an

assistant United States attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

in the Eastern District of New York, where he prosecuted cases involving "white-collar fraud, narcotics trafficking, labor racketeering, public corruption, and money laundering." He also served as deputy chief of the Narcotics section. From 2002 until his appointment as a district court judge, Ramos was a partner with the law firm Day Pitney LLP. He also served as a commissioner on the New York City Commission to combat police corruption.

Federal judicial service

On May 4, 2011, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Ramos to a seat on the

that had been vacated by Judge

Stephen C. Robinson Stephen Craig Robinson (born January 25, 1957) is a former United States District Judge who served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2003 to 2010. Early life and education Robinson was born in Brooklyn ...

, who resigned in 2010. On September 15, 2011, the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

reported his nomination to the Senate floor by a voice vote. The Senate confirmed his nomination on December 5, 2011, by a 89–0 vote. He received his commission on December 6, 2011.

Notable rulings

*On December 3, 2018, Ramos ruled that the

Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...

did not have the authority to withhold public safety grants from sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate in immigration enforcement and that the conditions unlawfully violate the separation of powers and were arbitrary and capricious in violation of the

Administrative Procedure Act The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), , is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations, and it grants U.S. fede ...

. On February 26, 2020, a panel 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 covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...

unanimously overturned the decision stating, in part, that the conditions defined in the policy "help the federal government enforce national immigration laws and policies supported by successive Democratic and Republican administrations." *On May 22, 2019, Ramos affirmed the validity of

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

s issued to

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

and

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994, and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations primarily in the ...

by two committees of the U.S. House of Representatives. The subpoenas asked for financial records relating to President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, his adult children, and his businesses. Trump's lawyers had asked Ramos to quash the subpoenas, but Ramos said such a request was "unlikely to succeed on the merits." On May 28, Ramos granted Trump's attorneys their request for a

stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

so they could pursue an expedited appeal through the courts.

Controversies

Ramos came under ethical scrutiny for allegedly violating the Judicial Code of Conduct by failing to disclose financial conflicts of interests in matters he presided over. In September 2021, the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' published an article reporting that more than 131 federal judges had violated their ethical obligations by presiding over matters where they had a financial interest. Ramos was prominently highlighted in the ''Wall Street Journal'' piece for presiding over a lawsuit between

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

and TIG Insurance Co. over a pollution dispute, while he owned upwards of $50,000 of ExxonMobil stock. Ramos ruled in favor of ExxonMobil, ordering TIG Insurance Co. to pay ExxonMobil $28 million in damages as well as $8 million in interest. Ramos again came under controversy in March 2022, when he failed to disclose a financial interest in a case he was presiding over. Investors had sued major banks, including

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

and

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

, accusing them of rigging the foreign bond market. Ramos dismissed the investors' complaint. It was later revealed that he held stock in one of the defendant banks. He subsequently recused himself from the matter, which was taken over by Judge

Valerie E. Caproni Valerie Elaine Caproni (born August 13, 1955) is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Caproni grew u ...

; she reconsidered the dismissal of the investors' complaint against the banks and allowed the case to proceed.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos, Edgardo 1960 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Assistant United States attorneys Lawyers from Ponce Harvard Law School alumni Hispanic and Latino American judges Hispanic and Latino American lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Lawyers from New York City Simpson Thacher & Bartlett associates United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama Yale University alumni