Katherine Anne Feinstein (born Berman; July 31, 1957) is an American attorney, public official, and former judge who currently serves as President of 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 ...

Fire Commission. Feinstein previously served as Presiding Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court from 2010 to 2012 and as a Superior Court judge from 2000 to 2012.

Early life and education

Katherine Anne Feinstein is the only biological child of

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...

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 ...

and her first husband, Judge Jack K. Berman. After her mother's marriage to Bertram Feinstein in 1962, she took her stepfather's last name. She is a graduate of 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 ...

(1980), and Hastings Law School (1984).

Career

After working 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 the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, she served as a prosecutor and worked as a lawyer representing police officers accused of wrongdoing. She then took a job with the San Francisco city attorney's office where she represented children in abuse and custody cases. In 2000, California Governor

Gray Davis Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. (born December 26, 1942) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 until he was recalled and removed from office in 2003. He is the second state governor ...

appointed her to the San Francisco Superior Court. In 2012, she announced her retirement from the court, and Judge Cynthia Ming-mei Lee replaced her as presiding judge. During her career, Feinstein founded several initiatives including Squires, a " scared straight" program that matched juvenile delinquents with convicts serving life sentences at

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated area, unincorporated place ...

; and a program that jailed drunks who skip their court dates unless they enter a treatment program. In 2016, she was named by

California Governor The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, th ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

to the

Medical Board of California The Medical Board of California (MBC) is a state government agency which licenses and disciplines physicians, surgeons and certain allied healthcare professionals in California. The Board provides two principal types of services to consumers: (1 ...

. In 2020,

San Francisco Mayor The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by t ...

London Breed London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who served as the 45th mayor of San Francisco from 2018 to 2025. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2018. Raised in t ...

appointed Feinstein to the city's Fire Commission, which provides oversight of the San Francisco Fire Department. Feinstein currently serves as the commission's president.

Personal life

She is married to Rick Mariano; they have one daughter, Eileen Feinstein Mariano. Eileen Feinstein Mariano was chosen as an

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

member for the

2016 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor, Indiana governor Mike P ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feinstein, Katherine 1957 births 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American judges Living people 2016 United States presidential electors California state court judges Superior court judges in the United States University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni 21st-century American women judges Dianne Feinstein