Virginia A. Phillips
{{Short description|American judge (born 1957)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Virginia Anne Phillips
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| office = Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
| term_start = February 14, 2022
| term_end =
| office1 = Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
| term_start1 = July 1, 2016
| term_end1 = May 31, 2020
| predecessor1 = George H. King
| successor1 = Cormac J. Carney
| office2 = Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
| term_start2 = November 15, 1999
| term_end2 = February 14, 2022
| appointer2 = Bill Clinton
| predecessor2 = William Matthew Byrne Jr.
| successor2 = Wesley Hsu
| office3 = Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
| term_start3 = 1995
| term_end3 = 1999
| pronunciation =
| birth_name = Virginia Anne Ettinger
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|02|14}}
| birth_place = Orange, California, U.S.
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| education = University of California, Riverside (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)
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Virginia Anne Phillips (née Ettinger; born February 14, 1957) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Early life and education
Born (as Virginia Ettinger){{cite web |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/15/judge-dont-ask-dont-tell/ |access-date=2010-11-03 |date=2010-10-15 |title=Judge in "Don't ask" case: activist or model jurist? |work=Sign On San Diego}} and raised in Orange, California,{{cite magazine |url=http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/10/19/the-widow-judge-who-ended-dont-ask-dont-tell/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022041738/http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/10/19/the-widow-judge-who-ended-dont-ask-dont-tell/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 22, 2010 |access-date=2010-11-03 |date=2010-10-19 |title=The Widow Judge Who Ended "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" |author=Mark Thompson |magazine=Time}} Phillips received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Riverside, in 1979 and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1982.
Career
Phillips was in private practice in Riverside, California, from 1982 to 1991. She was a Commissioner for the Riverside County Superior Court from 1991 to 1995.
=Federal judicial service=
In 1995, Phillips became a United States magistrate judge of the Central District of California. On January 26, 1999, Phillips was nominated by President Bill Clinton to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, to a seat vacated by Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 10, 1999, and received her commission on November 15, 1999. Phillips served as chief judge from July 1, 2016 to May 31, 2020.{{cite web|url=http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/news/judge-virginia-phillips-succeeds-judge-george-h-king-chief-judge|title=Judge Virginia A. Phillips Succeeds Judge George H. King as Chief Judge - Central District of California - United States District Court|website=www.cacd.uscourts.gov}}{{Cite press release |title=Judge Cormac J. Carney Succeeds Judge Virginia A. Phillips as Chief Judge of the Central District of California |date=June 1, 2020 |url=http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/news/judge-cormac-j-carney-succeeds-judge-virginia-phillips-chief-judge-central-district-california |access-date=June 7, 2020}} Phillips assumed senior status on February 14, 2022, her 65th birthday.
Notable cases
On September 9, 2010, Phillips ruled that the United States Department of Defense's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is unconstitutional in the case Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/us/10gays.html|title=Judge Rules That Military Policy Violates Rights of Gays|date=September 9, 2010|access-date=September 10, 2010|last=Schwartz|first=John|newspaper=The New York Times}} On October 12, Phillips issued a permanent worldwide injunction ordering the military to immediately "suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding, that may have been commenced" under "don't ask, don't tell".{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/12/judge.dont.ask.order/index.html?hpt=T2|title=Judge orders military to stop enforcing 'don't ask, don't tell'|author=Adam Levine|work=CNN|date=October 12, 2010|access-date=October 12, 2010}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-12/u-s-military-barred-by-judge-from-enforcing-don-t-ask-don-t-tell-rule.html|title=U.S. Military Barred by Judge From Enforcing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Rule|date=October 12, 2010|access-date=October 12, 2010|last=Pettersson|first=Edvard|publisher=Bloomberg L.P}} The Ninth Circuit stayed the injunction pending appeal{{Cite web|url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2010/11/01/10-56634_order_granting_stay.pdf|title=Ninth Circuit Order}} but on July 6, 2011, lifted the stay.{{cite news|title=DADT Repeal: Court Orders Immediate Halt To Gay Military Ban|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/06/dadt-repeal-court-order-_n_891591.html|access-date=July 7, 2011|newspaper=Huffington Post|date=July 6, 2011}} On September 29, 2011, the Ninth Circuit vacated the district court's decision, ruling that the legislative repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" had rendered the case moot.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gays-military-idUSTRE78S5NE20110929?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews |title=U.S. court vacates ruling on gays in military |publisher=Reuters |first=Dan |last=Levine |date=September 29, 2011 |access-date=October 24, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2011/09/29/10-56634_opinion.pdf |title=Ninth Circuit opinion |date=September 29, 2011 |access-date=November 20, 2011 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- {{Cite journal
| last = Butler
| first = Ed
| title = BenchMarks: Virginia A. Phillips
| journal = San Bernardino County Bar Association
| pages = 4–5
| location = San Bernardino, California
| date = October 2007
| url = http://www.sbcba.org/judges/victoriaphillips0710.pdf
| access-date = March 23, 2011}}
External links
- {{FJC Bio|nid=1391071}}
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/politics/11judge.html Woman In the News | Virginia A. Phillips, A Judge Lauded as No-Nonsense and Scholarly (New York Times, September 10, 2010)]
- [https://www.uscourts.gov/judicial-milestones/virginia-anne-phillips Judicial Milestones: Virginia Anne Phillips]
{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before=William Matthew Byrne Jr.}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California}}|years=1999–2022}}
{{s-aft|after=Wesley Hsu}}
{{s-bef|before=George H. King}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California}}|years=2016–2020}}
{{s-aft|after=Cormac J. Carney}}
{{s-end}}
{{United States 9th Circuit senior district judges}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Virginia A.}}
Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Category:People from Orange, California
Category:United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
Category:United States magistrate judges
Category:University of California, Riverside alumni
Category:UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
Category:20th-century American judges
Category:21st-century American judges