Charles Roberts Breyer (born November 3, 1941) is a senior United States district judge 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 ...

. Breyer served as chairman of the

United States Sentencing Commission The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the federal courts. The Commission promulgat ...

from 2018 to 2022.

Early life and career

Breyer was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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 ...

. He is the younger brother of

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is an American lawyer and retired jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and r ...

, who served as a justice of the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

from 1994 to 2022. Charles and Stephen were active in the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

and achieved the

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

rank. Breyer attended Lowell High School. He 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 ...

degree from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1963 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

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in 1966. He was 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 ...

to Judge Oliver Carter of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1966 to 1967. He was a counsel for the Legal Aid Society of

in 1967, and then an

assistant district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represe ...

for the City and County of

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, from 1967 to 1973. Breyer was an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force from August, 1973 to November, 1974 and then entered private practice in San Francisco from 1974 to 1997, interrupted by a brief stint again as chief assistant district attorney of the City and County of San Francisco in 1979.

Federal judicial service

On July 24, 1997, Breyer was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

to a seat on the

vacated by D. Lowell Jensen. He was confirmed by 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 ...

on November 8, 1997, and received his commission on November 12, 1997. He took senior status on December 31, 2011. He served as a member of the United States Judicial Conference from 2006 to 2010. He served as a Member of the United States

Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

from 2011 to 2018. He served as vice chair of the

from 2013 to 2016 and as a member of the same commission from 2017 to 2022. Stephen Breyer has recused himself from appeals of cases tried by his brother, including '' Olympic Airways v. Husain'', ''Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker'', '' United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative'', ''

Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms ''Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms'', 561 U.S. 139 (2010), is a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case decided 7-1 in favor of Monsanto.. The decision allowed Monsanto to sell genetically modified alfalfa seeds t ...

'', ''Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds'' and ''City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan''.

Notable cases

Breyer presided over the

Ed Rosenthal Edward "Ed" Rosenthal (born December 2, 1944) is an American horticulturist, author, publisher, and ''Cannabis'' grower known for his advocacy for the legalization of Cannabis (drug), marijuana use. He served as a columnist for ''High Times, Hig ...

trial in 2007, a federal prosecution for distribution of marijuana for medical use. This case was controversial because Breyer sentenced Rosenthal, who faced a possible sentence of 100 years for growing marijuana, to just one day in prison. He also presided over the stock-options backdating trial of Brocade Communications Systems CEO Gregory Reyes in 2007. In 2014, he ruled against the city of San Francisco's legislation to protect tenants from Ellis Act evictions. He presided over the 2014 criminal case involving San Francisco police theft and racist texting, in which his court order was blamed for the delay in releasing information. Following the

Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...

, Breyer had approved a $16.5 billion settlement for US consumers. Volkswagen agreed to redeem an estimated 475,000 diesel automobiles in the US. In 2025, he ruled against the Trump administration's federalization of the

California National Guard The California National Guard (Cal Guard) is part of the National Guard (United States), National Guard of the United States, a dual federal–state military reserve force in the state of California. It has three components: the California Army ...

in '' Newsom v. Trump'', but the administration appealed and a stay of the ruling was issued hours later.

Personal life

Breyer was married to the late Sydney Goldstein,Sydney Goldstein
/ref> who founded City Arts & Lectures in San Francisco in 1980 and in whose honor the Nourse Theater was renamed after her death in 2018.

References

External links