Jagan Nicholas Ranjan (born 1978) 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 Western District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, W.D. Pa.) is a federal trial court that sits in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federa ...

Education

Ranjan graduated from

Grove City College Grove City College (GCC) is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1876 as a normal school, the college emphasizes a humanities core curriculum and offers 60 majors and si ...

in 2000 with 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 ...

, ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

''. He then attended the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

, where he was a note editor of the ''

Michigan Law Review The ''Michigan Law Review'' is an American law review and the flagship law journal of the University of Michigan Law School. History The ''Michigan Law Review'' was established in 1902, after Gustavus Ohlinger, a student in the Law Department ...

''. He graduated in 2003 with 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 ...

, ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

''.

Career

Ranjan started his legal career by serving 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 ...

to Judge

Deborah L. Cook Deborah Louise Cook (born February 8, 1952) is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, based in Akron, Ohio. She served as a justice of the Ohio ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

. Upon graduation from law school, Ranjan served as a Simon Karas Fellow with the

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio attorney general is the chief legal officer of the state of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio attorney general is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the att ...

's Office, working with the state solicitor general on the office's major appeals. From 2005 to 2019, Ranjan was an equity partner in the

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, office of

K&L Gates K&L Gates LLP is an American multinational corporation law firm based in the United States, with international offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the firm was formed in 2007 by the ...

, where he litigated

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

, and

appellate In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

matters. While at K&L Gates, he served on the firm's global

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

and diversity committees, and directed his office's pro bono program—which was awarded "pro bono law firm of the year" in 2017 by the local bar association. He is active in the community, serving on legal diversity and symphony boards, as well as serving as a mentor to local middle school students.

Federal judicial service

On July 13, 2018, 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 ...

announced his intent to nominate Ranjan to a seat on the

. On July 24, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. PresidentTrump nominated Ranjan to the seat vacated by Judge Kim R. Gibson, who assumed senior status on June 3, 2016. On November 13, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before 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 ...

. On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of 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 ...

, which provides that nominations not acted upon during a session are considered to have expired. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Ranjan for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. On July 9, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by an 83–15 vote. On July 10, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by an 80–14 vote. He received judicial commission on July 12, 2019.

Notable rulings

* In August 2020, Ranjan ordered the Trump campaign to produce evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania by Friday, August 14. The Trump campaign must answer questions from Democratic groups, or admit to having no proof of election fraud. A hearing about the evidence was set for late September. On August 23, 2020, Ranjan issued a stay on the Trump campaign's lawsuit, pending the result of a similar state-level lawsuit. * On October 10, 2020, in the case of ''Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Boockvar'', Ranjan granted judgment in favor of the Secretary of State of Pennsylvania,

Kathy Boockvar Kathryn Boockvar (, born October 23, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from January 5, 2019 to February 5, 2021. She was appointed to the position by Governor Tom Wolf. Bo ...

, and denied the Trump campaign's claims of voter fraud and allowed ballot dropboxes to remain in service. In his decision, Ranjan concluded that "the plain language of the ennsylvania StateElection Code imposes no requirement for signature comparison for mail-in and absentee ballots and applications," a reasoning that was approvingly cited by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on 23 October.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, No. 149 MM 2020. ''In Re: November 3, 2020 General Election''. SUBMITTED: October 16, 2020. OPINION: Justice Todd. DECIDED: October 23, 202
. http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-113-2020mo%20-%20104584871117842321.pdf?cb=1
/ref>

Awards and recognition

Ranjan has been recognized by

Chambers USA Chambers and Partners (often noted elsewhere as Chambers & Partners) is a research firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that produces international rankings for the legal industry. Orbach and Chambers Orbach and Chambers Publishing Lim ...

as one of the top commercial litigators in Pennsylvania multiple times, and has been a fellow with the Litigation Counsel of America and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranjan, Nicholas 1978 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers American jurists of Indian descent Grove City College alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Lawyers from Pittsburgh Ohio lawyers Pennsylvania lawyers People from Lancaster, Ohio United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump University of Michigan Law School alumni West Virginia lawyers