James Ware (judge)

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Ware received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969 from California Lutheran University and a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1972. Ware was a United States Army Reserve Second Lieutenant in 1972 and also served in the United States Army as a Military Police Officer in 1973. Ware also served as a United States Army Reserve Captain in the Military Police from 1973 to 1986 after graduating from Stanford Law School.{{FJC Bio|nid=1389381|inline=yes}}

From 1972 until 1988, Ware worked as an attorney in private practice in Palo Alto, California. From 1988 to 1990, Ware was a judge on the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Ware previously taught Civil Procedure at Lincoln Law School of San Jose and Santa Clara University School of Law,{{Cite web |date=2012-09-05 |title=Federal Court Judge Hon. James Ware (Ret.) Joins JAMS |url=https://www.jamsadr.com/news/2012/federal-court-judge-hon-james-ware-joins-jams |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=www.jamsadr.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Chiang |first=Harriet |date=April 14, 1996 |title=Hungry for Justice U.S. District Judge James Ware appears to be a walking contradiction -- an African American Republican who fought in the civil rights movement and whose rulings are often unpredictable. But a childhood tragedy in Birmingham sheds light |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Hungry-for-Justice-U-S-District-Judge-James-Ware-3774280.php |website=SFGate}} and currently works in arbitration and mediation at JAMS in Northern California{{cite web |title=Hon. James Ware (Ret.) |url=https://www.jamsadr.com/ware/ |website=JAMS ADR |access-date=2 June 2025}}.

Ware was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on August 3, 1990, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Judge Robert Francis Peckham. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 28, 1990, and received commission on October 1, 1990. He served as Chief Judge from 2010 to 2012. His service terminated on August 31, 2012, due to retirement.{{cite news| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/01/BANK1OC0AI.DTL | work=The San Francisco Chronicle | title=S.F.'s federal Chief Judge James Ware retiring | first=Bob | last=Egelko | date=May 2, 2012}}

On June 27, 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated Ware to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to replace J. Clifford Wallace, who had taken senior status.{{cite web | author=The White House: Office of the Press Secretary | url=http://archives.clintonpresidentialcenter.org/index.php?u=062797-president-nominates-ware-to-federal-bench-in-california.htm | title=President Nominates Ware to Federal Bench in California | date=June 27, 1997 | accessdate=May 14, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005051509/http://archives.clintonpresidentialcenter.org/index.php?u=062797-president-nominates-ware-to-federal-bench-in-california.htm | archive-date=October 5, 2011 | url-status=dead }} Ware had a hearing before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1997.[http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/congbibs/senate/105dgst1.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430172645/http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/congbibs/senate/105dgst1.html|date=April 30, 2009}}

However, Ware's nomination unraveled amid an embarrassing scandal that ultimately resulted in him being judicially reprimanded leading Clinton to withdraw his nomination of Ware on November 27, 1997.{{cite web |url=http://rs9.loc.gov/r105/r105d07no7.html |title=Daily Digest: Friday, November 7, 1997 |publisher=Rs9.loc.gov |date= |accessdate=2011-07-29 |archive-date=2016-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115045422/http://rs9.loc.gov/r105/r105d07no7.html |url-status=dead }} In 1998, Judge Ware was reprimanded by the Judicial Council of the Northern District Court of California for fabricating the story of being the brother of Virgil Ware,{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005718,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930055853/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005718,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 30, 2007|title=The Legacy of Virgil Ware|author1=Padgett, Tim |author2=Sikora, Frank |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Time magazine|date=September 22, 2003}} a 13-year-old black boy shot by white teenagers in Alabama in 1963 on the same day as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. According to a story Judge Ware had told many audiences, he was riding his bike with his brother Virgil on the handlebars when Virgil was shot and killed by white racists.{{cite news|url=http://www.rangemagazine.com/archives/stories/spring98/stories_the_infamous_ninth.htm |title=The Infamous Ninth|author=Walley, J. Zane|publisher=Range|year=1998}} The incident was a real one, however it happened to a different James Ware, as was discovered when Judge Ware's claim was published in the Alabama papers after he was nominated to the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton. The father of the long-ago slain boy contacted the Alabama courts to report that the California judge was impersonating his own son James Ware who was an employee in a Birmingham power plant. The Alabama courts contacted the California courts, who convened the ethics hearing. Judge Ware was reprimanded but allowed to retain his lifetime appointment as district judge.{{cite news|url=http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1998_Aug_26.JUDGE.html|title=COURTS: Judge Ware reprimanded by his peers Federal jurist scolded for misrepresenting himself in civil rights story |author=Breitrose, Charlie|date=August 26, 1998|publisher=Palo Alto Weekly}}

Ware is known for hearing a number of Internet business-related cases such as the sex.com ownership case and RealNetworks vs. Microsoft suit despite "[having] little in the way of high-tech training or experience to make him particularly well suited to preside over these influential cases".{{cite news|url=http://www.privacyjournal.net/newsletter.htm|title=The Chief Judge of Silicon Valley|author=Smith, Robert Ellis|date=July 2011|accessdate=November 26, 2011}} In 2006, he heard the Google search terms suit.{{cite news|url=http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6031941.html?tag=nl|title=Court date set for Google lawsuit|author=McCullagh, Declan|date=January 27, 2006|publisher=ZDNet}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He ruled that search engine company Google.com must turn over bulk data related to searches, in response to a government order designed to bolster support for an anti-pornography law that has already been ruled unconstitutional.{{cite news|url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=970|title=Google Judge's questionable past|author=Shaw, Russell|date=March 15, 2006|publisher=ZDNet|access-date=March 16, 2006|archive-date=March 17, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317233928/http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=970|url-status=dead}} In September 2009, in Rocky Mountain Bank v. Google Inc., he ruled that Google must provide the identity and contact information for a Gmail user that was mistakenly sent confidential information by the Rocky Mountain Bank. He also ordered Google to deactivate the Gmail account.{{cite news|url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=114264|title=Judge Orders Google To Deactivate User's Gmail Account|author=Davis, Wendy|date=September 24, 2009|publisher=MediaPostNews|access-date=September 27, 2009|archive-date=August 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812000459/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=114264|url-status=dead}}

In 2001, Ware sentenced hacker Max Butler to 18 months in prison for infiltrating United States Department of Defense computers.{{cite magazine|last=Delio|first=Michelle|title=A 'White Hat' Goes to Jail|url=https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/05/44007|magazine=Wired|accessdate=March 4, 2011|date=May 24, 2001}}

On November 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a writ of mandamus against Judge Ware in Cohen v. United States District Court, which found that Ware's decision to appoint lead counsel for the plaintiff in a securities fraud case was "clear error" that amounted to "usurpation of power".{{cite web|title=Cohen v. United States District Court |url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/11/05/09-70378.pdf}}{{cite web|publisher=Willamette Law Online |title=Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: Decisions issued November 4–10, 2009 |url=http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/journals/wlo/9thcir/09cases/20091110.html}}

On June 14, 2011, Ware ruled that former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker did not have to recuse himself before he declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Opponents of same-sex marriage rights had argued that Walker could not make an impartial decision about a law removing the right of same-sex couples to marry because he was gay, and that he must publicly state that he did not wish to marry his partner of ten years. Ware cited previous cases where challenges against female or minority judges were declined, writing, "The presumption that Judge Walker, by virtue of being in a same-sex relationship, had a desire to be married that rendered him incapable of making an impartial decision, is as warrantless as the presumption that a female judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal relief."{{cite web|last1=Leff|first1=Lisa|title=Gay judge's same-sex marriage ruling upheld|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_MARRIAGE_TRIAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-14-03-07-03|publisher=Associated Press|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617061052/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_MARRIAGE_TRIAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-14-03-07-03|archivedate=June 17, 2011|date=June 15, 2011}}

On November 13, 2011, Ware made a decision to throw out a lawsuit by the parents of Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano and Dominic Maciel against the Morgan Hill Unified School District. The lawsuit was over an incident on May 5, 2010, where the students came to school at Live Oak High School wearing shirts with American flags. The school sent these students home for fear of inciting violence against the Mexican-American portion of the school body. The lawsuit claimed that "their right to free expression had been violated. They added that there had been discrimination as students wearing Mexican flag colours were not censored."{{cite news| url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Court-backs-Morgan-Hill-school-in-flag-dispute-2323579.php | work=San Francisco Chronicle | title=Court backs Morgan Hill school in flag dispute | date=November 12, 2011}} Ware dismissed the lawsuit on the basis that while the Supreme Court has ruled that public school students have the right to engage in non-disruptive free speech, that ruling ‘does not require that school officials wait until disruption occurs before they act’.{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/Politics/immigration/flagshirts.asp|title=Shirt Stop|date=28 February 2014 |publisher=Snopes.com|accessdate=May 15, 2016}}

• List of African-American federal judges
• List of African-American jurists

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• {{FJC Bio|nid=1389381}}

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{{s-bef|before=Robert Francis Peckham}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California}}|years=1990–2012}}

{{s-aft|after=James Donato}}

{{s-bef|before=Vaughn Walker}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California}}|years=2010–2012}}

{{s-aft|after=Claudia Ann Wilken}}

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Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:African-American judges

Category:Alabama lawyers

Category:California Lutheran University alumni

Category:California state court judges

Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Category:Lawyers from Birmingham, Alabama

Category:Santa Clara University faculty

Category:Lincoln Law School of San Jose faculty

Category:Stanford Law School alumni

Category:Superior court judges in the United States

Category:United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush