Edward Milton Chen (born January 20, 1953) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

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

U.S. 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 ...

. He was appointed in 2011 by 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 ...

. He previously served as a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the same court from 2001 to 2011.

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, Chen earned a bachelor's degree in 1975 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 ...

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

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 1979.President Obama Nominates Edward Milton Chen, Dolly Gee and Richard Seeborg to Serve on the District Court Bench
''whitehouse.gov'' (August 7, 2009).

Career

After graduating law school, Chen clerked for Judge Charles Byron Renfrew 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 ...

from June 1979 to April 1980 and Judge James R. Browning 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 for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

from June 1981 to June 1982. From 1982 until 1985, Chen served as an associate at the

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 ...

law firm of Coblentz, Cahen, McCabe & Breyer. In September 1985, Chen became a staff attorney for the

American Civil Liberties Union 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. T ...

, specializing in language discrimination cases. He held that post until April 2001, when the judges on the

named Chen to an eight-year term as a

Federal judicial service

Chen served as a United States magistrate judge from 2001 until 2011. On August 7, 2009, President

nominated Chen to a seat on the

vacated by the resignation of

Martin Jenkins Martin Joseph Jenkins (born November 12, 1953) is an American attorney and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. He was previously a justice of the California Court of Appeal for the First District, located i ...

. On October 15, 2009, 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 ...

advanced his nomination by a 12–7 vote. On December 24, 2009, the U.S. Senate returned Chen's nomination to the president. Senator Feinstein in an interview published in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' on December 29, 2009 reiterated her support for Judge Chen and her hope that the President would renominate Judge Chen for the U.S. District Court. President Obama renominated Chen in January 2010, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination on February 4, 2010. On August 5, 2010, the U.S. Senate again returned Chen's nomination for failure to confirm him. President Obama renominated Chen to the seat on September 13, 2010 and again on January 5, 2011. On May 10, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Chen by a 56–42 vote. He received his judicial commission on May 12, 2011. Since being confirmed as a District Judge, Chen has been a prolific writer, authoring a number of major opinions. According to one legal news source, Judge Chen is the 4th most-influential district judge appointed since 2010. The same source later named Judge Chen one of the "7 Rising Star Judges You Want to Clerk For." Chen assumed senior status on May 17, 2022.

Notable cases

Chen's notable cases have included the civil trial regarding the

shooting of Oscar Grant Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old black man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a f ...

by a

Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department The BART Police (BARTPD), officially the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, is the transit police agency of the BART rail system in the U.S. state of California. The department has approximately three hundred police personnel, including ...

officer, the criminal prosecution of former

Korn Ferry Korn Ferry is a management consulting firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1969 and as of 2019, operates in 111 offices in 53 countries and employs 8,198 people worldwide. Korn Ferry operates through four business seg ...

executive David Nosal for hacking, and a number of cases being brought against

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

regarding the classification of its drivers as independent contractors. On June 21, 2012, the

charity fraud Charity fraud, also known as a donation scam, is the act of using deception to obtain money from people who believe they are donating to a charity. Often, individuals or groups will present false information claiming to be a charity or associated w ...

case of '' Carreon v. Inman et al'', which has achieved some prominence on the Internet, was assigned to Chen. Judge Chen also presided over a historic trial brought by the Food and Water Watch et al. against the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

(EPA) relevant to the

Toxic Substances Control Act The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is a United States law, passed by the Congress in 1976 and administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that regulates chemicals not regulated by other U.S. federal statutes, ...

(TSCA) and

water fluoridation Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to Public water supply, public water supplies to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water maintains fluoride levels effective for cavity prevention, achieved naturally or through supplem ...

. On September 24, 2024, Judge Chen found for the plaintiff, ordering the EPA to mitigate the risk per TSCA regulations. He wrote in his decision that "the Court finds that fluoridation of water at 0.7 milligrams per liter (“mg/L”) – the level presently considered “optimal” in the United States – poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children." He further wrote: "This order does not dictate precisely what that response must be. Amended TSCA leaves that decision in the first instance to the EPA. One thing the EPA cannot do, however, in the face of this Court’s finding, is to ignore that risk."

References

External links