
Susan Yvonne Illston (born June 24, 1948) is a
senior United States district judge of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She 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, ...
and confirmed by the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in 1995. She assumed
senior status in 2013.
Education and career
Illston was born in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, was raised in the military, and attended Fort Knox High School. She graduated from
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
, receiving 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 ...
in 1970, and she received 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
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...
in 1973.
Prior to her appointment, Illston worked in private practice first as an associate, then as a partner, at Cotchett, Illston & Pitre in
Burlingame,
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 ...
from 1973 to 1995.
Federal judicial service
On the recommendations of Senators
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is a retired American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United St ...
and
Dianne Feinstein, Illston 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, ...
on January 23, 1995 and confirmed by the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on May 25, 1995 by
voice vote
In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...
, receiving her commission the following day.
She took
senior status on July 1, 2013.
Notable cases
''DiLoreto v. Downey''
Sitting
by designation of the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1999 Illston wrote the panel decision in ''DiLoreto v. Downey Unified School District Board of Education'', 196 F.3d 958 (9th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1067 (2000), which held that an athletic fence which a public high school made available for commercial advertising is a nonpublic forum from which religious messages could be excluded without violating the
First Amendment.
''321 Studios v. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Inc.''
In February 2004, Illston ruled in ''
321 Studios v. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Inc.'' that the company's software, which was intended, according to the company, to allow consumers to make backup copies of
DVDs by "circumventing" so-called "
copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, is any measure to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.
Copy protection is most commonly found on vid ...
" methods, was illegal under Federal law. She issued an
injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
at the behest of several Hollywood studios and ordered
321 Studios to stop selling their product. However, despite finding that the software violated Federal law, she ruled that copies made by consumers (of their own legally purchased DVDs) were, in fact, legal. She wrote in her opinion, "It is the technology itself at issue, not the uses to which the copyrighted material may be put...Legal downstream use of the copyrighted material by customers is not a defense to the software manufacturer's violation of the provisions
f copyright law"
[Judge: DVD-copying software is illegal]
Cnet, accessed 24 AUG 2008
''US v. Arnold''
In August 2006, Illston sentenced Patrick Arnold, a chemist who developed an undetectable performance-enhancing drug for
BALCO, to three months in prison.
[''Man who concocted 'the clear' gets 3 months in prison'']
- Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, 8/4/06
''US v. Bonds''
In March 2009, Illston presided over a
perjury case involving
Barry Bonds.
''Kyriacou v. Peralta Community College Dist.''
In April 2009, Illston ruled that two students who were threatened with suspension by their community college, the
College of Alameda, could sue the school for free speech infringement.
''Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Land Management''
In October 2009, Illston ruled in favor of environmental groups, including the
Center for Biological Diversity, that sued the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over a 5,000 mile expansion of
off-roading
Off-roading is the act of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, dirt, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, or other natural terrain. Off-roading ranges from casual drives with regular vehicles to competitive events w ...
trails in
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 ...
's
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
. Illston found that the BLM had violated its own regulations
when it designated the routes in 2006
without adequately analyzing the impacts on air quality, soils, plant communities and sensitive species such as the endangered
Mojave fringe-toed lizard. Illston called the BLM's plan "flawed because it does not contain a reasonable range of alternatives" to limit damage to sensitive habitat and pointed out that the desert and its resources are "extremely fragile, easily scarred, and slowly healed."
The court also found that the BLM had failed to follow route restrictions established in the agency’s own conservation plan, resulting in the establishment of hundreds of illegal off roading routes during the past three decades.
Illston ruled that the plan specifically violated the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) and the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
The Bureau of Land Management was required, as a result of the lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, to prepare a new inventory of routes and to reconsider the routes that would be included in the revised network. That process concluded with a Record of Decision filed by the BLM in the Federal Register on October 4, 2019.
That Record of Decision expanded the West Mojave Route Network Project (WMRNP) by approximately 20% to 5997 miles. In response, the Center for Biological Diversity filed another lawsuit in September 2021 opposing the expansion of the network and the resulting degradation of the environment.
The new case was also heard by Judge Illston, who issued her decision on October 16, 2024. The result was similar to the result of the previous case. Judge Illston wrote in her opinion that "the Court concludes that the BLM’s 2019 OHV route network does not comply
iththe minimization criteria because the record does not affirmatively demonstrate how the BLM designated OHV routes with the objective of minimizing impacts on the desert tortoise, the Lane Mountain milk-vetch, and other resources, and because the BLM improperly relied on optional, post-designation 'mitigation' measures to satisfy its obligation to designate OHV routes that complied with the regulatory criteria."
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Bureau of Land Management began to negotiate a settlement to the lawsuit in November 2024, which is currently ongoing (as of April 2025) .
''Sony v. Hotz''
Illston in 2011 was the presiding judge in ''
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
America LLC v.
George Hotz, et al.'', in which Sony claimed that Hotz's
jailbreaking of the Sony
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
violated the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act. She granted Sony permission to track as much information as possible about those who had seen a private YouTube video about the jailbreak and to read their comments, plus obtain access to IP addresses, accounts, and other details of visitors to sites run by Geohot. The access granted by Illston extended even to those who had not downloaded the jailbreak code.
''In Re: National Security Letters''
In a March 15, 2013, ruling Judge Illston granted petitioner's motion to set aside a
National Security Letter (NSL), ruling that the NSL's nondisclosure and judicial review provisions suffer from significant Constitutional infirmities.
[ NSL Order]
Scribd, accessed 1 SEP 2013 The petitioner argued that the nondisclosure provision of statute 18 U.S.C. § 2709(c) was an unconstitutional
prior restraint and content-based restriction on speech.
The decision came in a lawsuit challenging a NSL on behalf of an unnamed telecommunications company represented by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties.
It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...
(EFF).
[Court Finds NSL Statutes Violate First Amendment and Separation of Powers]
EFF, accessed September 1, 2013 The judge stayed her decision for 90 days to give the government the opportunity to appeal.
''Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc.''
In April 2020, Illston issued an order—ultimately overturned by the US Supreme Court—denying
Slack Technologies
Slack Technologies, LLC is an American software company founded in 2009 in Vancouver, British Columbia, known for its proprietary communication platform Slack (software), Slack. Outside its headquarters in San Francisco, California, Slack also o ...
’ motion to dismiss a securities
class action
A class action is a form of lawsuit.
Class Action may also refer to:
* ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
* Class Action (band), a garage house band
* "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...
complaint against it following a direct listing by the company. The judge held that the plaintiff did not lack standing to pursue claims under
Section 11 of the
Securities Act where the purchased shares were not traceable to the allegedly misleading
registration statement, in the unique situation of a direct listing in which shares registered under the Securities Act become publicly tradeable on the same day that unregistered shares become publicly tradeable, even though the plaintiff could not show that the shares the plaintiff acquired were registered. Illiston certified her ruling for interlocutory appeal, and the Ninth Circuit - with a divided panel - affirmed.
[''Slack v. Prani''](_blank)
Supreme Court of the United States
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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
(2023). Dissenting, Judge
Eric D. Miller argued that Sections 11 and 12 require a plaintiff to prove that he purchased securities registered under a materially misleading registration statement, something Pirani had not done, and cited a long line of lower court decisions that interpreted Section 11 as applying only to shares purchased pursuant to a registration statement.
The
United States 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 ...
ultimately reviewed the case. It noted in its unanimous June 2023 decision in ''
Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani'', No. 22-200, 598 U.S. ___ (2023), that lower federal courts had held since the 1960s that liability under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 attaches "only when a buyer can trace the shares he has purchased to a false or misleading registration statement."
It held that "because we think the better reading of the particular provision before us requires a plaintiff to plead and prove that he purchased shares traceable to the allegedly defective registration statement, we vacate the Ninth Circuit’s judgment holding otherwise."
The case was remanded to the Ninth Circuit, which held in 2025 that because the plaintiff previously conceded that he could not make the required showing that the securities that he purchased were traceable to the particular registration statement alleged to be false or misleading, all of his claims failed, and the court consequently reversed and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss the complaint in full and with prejudice.
''Anoke v. X Holdings Corp.''
On 20 August 2024, Illston granted a motion to unseal a list of shareholders of X Holdings Corp. (which owns
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
since the acquisition by Elon Musk). The unsealed document was published to the court's website.
Publications
*''California Complex Litigation Manual'' (1990)
*''Insurance Coverage in a Toxic Tort Case, A Guide to Toxic Torts'' (1987)
References
External links
*
*
Judge Illston's webpage at the United States District Court for the Northern District of CaliforniaIllston Profile on Judgepedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Illston, Susan Yvonne
1948 births
Living people
Lawyers from San Francisco
People from Burlingame, California
Lawyers from Tokyo
Duke University alumni
Stanford Law School alumni
Drugs in sport in the United States
Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
20th-century American women judges
21st-century American women judges