Michael W. Fitzgerald

Early life and education

Fitzgerald was born in Los Angeles, California in 1959. He earned an Artium Baccalaureus from Harvard College in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1985. From 1985 to 1986, Fitzgerald served as a law clerk for Judge Irving Kaufman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Career

From 1988 to 1991, Fitzgerald was an assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California. From 1998, until his appointment to the Federal bench, Fitzgerald was part of a small Los Angeles law firm, Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey, which handles white collar criminal defense and business litigation.

Federal judicial service

On July 20, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Fitzgerald to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, he was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Howard Matz. Fitzgerald is the fourth openly gay candidate nominated by Obama to a federal judgeship, after Edward DuMont, J. Paul Oetken, and Alison J. Nathan.

He received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 4, 2011, and the committee reported his nomination to the floor of the Senate on November 3, 2011, his nomination being placed on the Senate Executive Calendar that same day. On March 15, 2012, the Senate confirmed Fitzgerald by a 91–6 vote. He received his commission the same day.

Fitzgerald will preside over the murder-for-hire trial for rapper Lil Durk and his co-defendants.

Notable ruling

In February 2018, Fitzgerald's ruling in Sean Hall and Nathan Butler's copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift received international attention.

Personal

Fitzgerald is openly gay and was the first openly LGBT person to be appointed to the federal bench in California.

References

References

1. Phillip, Abby. (July 20, 2011). "Obama to nominate fourth openly gay judicial candidate". [[Politico (newspaper).
2. "Lawyer Profile: Michael W. Fitzgerald". [[LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell.
3. Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP. "Attorneys: Michael W. Fitzgerald". corbfitzlaw.com.
4. The White House: Office of the Press Secretary. (July 20, 2011). "President Obama Announces His Intent to Nominate Michael Walter Fitzgerald to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California". [[whitehouse.gov]].
5. {{FJC Bio
6. (March 15, 2012). "Senate Confirms Michael W. Fitzgerald as District Judge for Central District of California". Ninth Circuit.
7. "Home – United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary".
8. "On the Nomination (Confirmation Michael Walter Fitzgerald, of California, to be U.S. District Judge)".
9. (15 November 2024). "Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Case: Rapper Pleads Not Guilty".
10. "Hall v Swift Dismissal {{!}} Substantial Similarity {{!}} Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure".
11. Savage, Mark. (2018-02-14). "Swift lyric too 'banal' to copyright". BBC News.
12. Bob Egelko. (2012-03-16). "Michael Fitzgerald 1st openly gay U.S. judge in CA". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].