Rosanna Malouf Peterson (born April 12, 1951) is 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

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington (in case citations, E.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Adams, Asotin, Benton, Ch ...

and a former professor at

Gonzaga University School of Law The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University. Established in 1912, the Jesuit-affiliated law school has been fully accredited by the American Ba ...

. She is the first female judge to serve in the Eastern District.

Early life and education

Born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Peterson attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

from 1969 until 1970 and again from 1971 until 1972. She then earned 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 cum laude from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

in 1977 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in 1983 from the school. In 1991, she earned 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 North Dakota School of Law The University of North Dakota School of Law is located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, at the University of North Dakota (UND). It is the only law school in North Dakota. It was established in 1899. The law school is home to approximately 240 stud ...

Career

Peterson worked from 1975 until 1978 as an instructor with the

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, third-most populous ...

Park District and from 1979 until 1983 as a graduate teaching assistant at the

. From 1984 until 1988, Peterson was a lecturer at the University of North Dakota's Department of English. During law school in 1989, she served as a judicial extern for North Dakota Judge Bruce Bohlman, and then in 1990 she served as a legal

extern In the C programming language, and its predecessor B, an external variable is a variable defined outside any function block. On the other hand, a local (automatic) variable is a variable defined inside a function block. Definition, declarati ...

for

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 ...

Kent Conrad Gaylord Kent Conrad (born March 12, 1948) is a former American politician who was a United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1986, he served as chairman or Ranking Member of ...

. From 1991 until 1993, Peterson served as a staff attorney for

Judge Frederick L. Van Sickle. Peterson then worked as an associate attorney for a

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

law firm from 1993 until 1994 and then was a sole practitioner in 1995. She then served as an associate attorney for another Spokane law firm from 1995 until 1997, and then was partner in a different Spokane law firm from 1998 until 2002. From 1999 until present, Peterson has served as an adjunct professor (1999–2005), a visiting professor (2005–2007) and an assistant professor (2007–2010) at the

. She became the director of the law school's externship program in 2002.

Federal judicial service

On October 13, 2009, 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 Peterson to serve as a judge on the

to a seat vacated by Judge Frederick L. Van Sickle, who assumed senior status on May 1, 2008. 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 ...

confirmed Peterson on January 25, 2010 by an 89–0 vote. She received her commission on January 26, 2010. She served as Chief Judge from January 27, 2011 to January 27, 2016. She assumed senior status on October 1, 2021.

Notable cases

In 2015, Peterson became a central figure in

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

and Tenth Amendment protests in Spokane. Following the arrest of Anthony P. Bosworth on February 25, 2015, Peterson authored new rules banning firearms and other weapons on the grounds surrounding the Thomas S. Foley Federal Courthouse in Spokane.General Order 15-54-1
''uscourts.gov'' (March 2, 2015). Bosworth's arrest and detention on February 25 led to an additional protest on March 6, 2015, where a large crowd defied the judge's order by appearing armed on the Walter F. Horan Plaza outside the courthouse. In 2019, Peterson made national headlines when she blocked 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 * ...

from implementing its changes to the

Public charge rule Under the public charge rule, immigrants to the United States classified as Likely or Liable to become a Public Charge may be denied visas or permission to enter the country due to their disabilities or lack of economic resources. The term was ...

nationwide.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Rosanna M. 1951 births Living people 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges Gonzaga University faculty Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington Lawyers from Salt Lake City United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama University of North Dakota alumni University of North Dakota faculty