William Alsup

Early life and career

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Alsup received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Mississippi State University in 1967, a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1971, and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1971.

He was a law clerk to Justice William O. Douglas of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1971 to 1972. Alsup was in private practice in San Francisco, California from 1972 to 1978 and an assistant to the United States Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice from 1978 to 1980. He returned to private practice in San Francisco from 1980 to 1998 with Morrison & Foerster, when he briefly served as a special counsel in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in 1998. He was again in private practice in San Francisco from 1998 to 1999.

Federal judicial service

On March 24, 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Alsup to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Thelton Henderson. Alsup was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30, 1999, and received his commission on August 17, 1999. He assumed senior status on January 21, 2021. Alsup assumed inactive senior status on December 31, 2025.

Notable cases

Alsup presided over the 2012 and 2016 jury trials in Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc., which concerns the APIs of Java SE and Android. He drew media attention for his familiarity with programming languages, at one point criticizing Oracle counsel David Boies for arguing that the Java function rangeCheck was novel, saying that he had "written blocks of code like rangeCheck a hundred times or more". Alsup was widely described as having learned Java in order to better understand the case, although a 2017 profile in The Verge stated that he had not learned a significant amount of Java, but had rather applied his knowledge as a longtime hobbyist BASIC programmer. The Federal Circuit overturned his determination that the Java API was not copyrightable. In 2021 the U.S. Supreme Court made no decision on copyrightability but decided that, even if copyright existed, Google's use of the API had been fair use and so not unlawful.

Alsup was also the presiding judge in what is believed to be the first trial against the U.S. No Fly List, which is a list of people who cannot use commercial aircraft in the United States. Regarding the removal of people incorrectly included in the list, he ruled that, "[t]he government's administrative remedies fall short of such relief and do not supply sufficient due process."

In August 2020, Judge Alsup sentenced Anthony Levandowski to 18 months in prison for one count of trade secret theft, for stealing technology from Google's Waymo to create Otto, a self driving startup, then selling it to Uber six months later for $680 million. In May 2017, Judge Alsup had ordered Levandowski to refrain from working on Otto's Lidar and required Uber to disclose its discussions on the technology.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

In September 2017, Judge Alsup was assigned four cases by parties suing to halt President Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by Barack Obama. On December 20, the Supreme Court unanimously issued an opinion urging Judge Alsup to consider arguments by the Trump administration that ending DACA was within executive authority and is not reviewable by federal courts.

On January 9, 2018, he granted a temporary injunction halting President Trump's rescission of DACA.

Dismissal of lawsuit against ExxonMobil

On July 27, 2018, Judge Alsup dismissed a lawsuit targeting ExxonMobil on the basis that two California cities, San Francisco and Oakland, could not prove the energy company was responsible for climate change in the state.

Student loans

On November 17, 2022, Alsup ruled in favor of 200,000 student loan borrowers in a class action lawsuit who claim that they were defrauded by for-profit colleges/universities. Alsup called the program's backlog "an impossible quagmire..." As of now, approximately 443,000 borrowers have pending borrower-defense applications. That is a staggering number. If, hypothetically, the Department's Borrower Defense Unit had all 33 of its claim adjudicators working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year (no holidays or vacation), with each claim adjudicator processing two claims per day, it would take the Department more than twenty-five years to get through the backlog." Alsup's ruling was based on borrower defense, which allows students to have their loans forgiven if the university lies to them about their job prospects, credit transferability or likely salary after graduation.

On December 11, 2025, Alsup denied the government's bid to delay resolution of "post-class" claims, which were filed between June 23 and July 17, 2022. The government is required to resolve those claims by January 28, 2026.

Mass firings

Main article: American Federation of Government Employees v. Office of Personnel Management

On February 27, 2025, Alsup ruled that mass firings ordered by the Office of Personnel Management at the behest of Elon Musk's DOGE are likely illegal. The mass firings included employees from the Department of Defense, Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Science Foundation. Alsup said:

Then, on March 13, 2025, Alsup ordered the reinstatement of thousands of employees in six different federal agencies.

Personal life

Alsup moved to California in the 1970s. He owns a 40-acre ranch in the Sierra Nevada foothills. In 2002 he published Missing in the Minarets, a book telling the story of the search for mountaineer Walter A Starr, Jr.

Awards and recognition

• 2013: Tara L. Riedley Barristers Choice Award, Bar Association of San Francisco
• 2013: Award of recognition from Lewis and Clark Law School.

References

Sources

References

1. "Alsup, William [WHA] - United States District Court, Northern District of California".
2. Dotinga, William. (May 17, 2012). "Oracle & Google Debate Road Map". Courthouse News.
3. "Supreme Court Historical Society - Journal of Supreme Court History".
4. "Alsup, William [WHA] {{!}} United States District Court, Northern District of California".
5. {{FJC Bio
6. (2025-12-11). "Judge denies government bid to delay borrower defense claim reviews for ‘highly suspect’ schools".
7. (2025-12-15). "Judge William Alsup Status Change".
8. Gershman, Jacob. (April 2016). "Google and Oracle Agree Not to Research Jurors Online Ahead of Major Trial". Wall Street Journal.
9. Jeong, Sarah. (October 19, 2017). "The Judge's Code: Meet the judge who codes — and decides tech's biggest cases".
10. Garling, Caleb. (May 15, 2012). "Oracle Goes for Broke in Court Battle With Google".
11. Fed Cir. <!--. (May 9, 2014). "Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc.". Fed Cir.
12. (5 April 2021). "Supreme Court Sides With Google In Decade-Long Fight Over API Copyright; Google's Copying Of Java API Is Fair Use".
13. (14 January 2017). "U.S. judge rules against government in no-fly challenge". Reuters.
14. (6 August 2020). "Former Uber self-driving car exec sentenced to 18 months in prison". CNN.
15. (31 March 2017). "Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges". [[The New York Times]].
16. (16 May 2017). "Uber Engineer Barred From Work on Key Self-Driving Technology, Judge Says". [[The New York Times]].
17. (2017-09-03). "U.S. judge aims to quickly decide lawsuits over DACA". Reuters.
18. (2017-12-20). "Justices Return Dispute over DACA Documents to Lower Court". The New York Times.
19. (2018-01-10). "Judge blocks Trump administration plan to roll back DACA". CNN.
20. (2018-07-27). "Case No. C 17-06011/06012 WHA". United States District Court.
21. (November 17, 2022). "Judge rules to erase the student loans of 200K borrowers who say they were ripped off".
22. (2025-12-11). "Judge denies government bid to delay borrower defense claim reviews for ‘highly suspect’ schools".
23. (February 27, 2025). "Judge finds mass firings of federal probationary workers were likely unlawful".
24. (February 27, 2025). "Judge blocks Trump administration's mass firings of federal workers".
25. (March 13, 2025). "Judge orders thousands of federal workers reinstated; slams 'sham' government declaration".
26. Morris, J. D.. (January 17, 2022). "For PG&E probation judge William Alsup, California's wildfire crisis is personal". San Francisco Chronicle.
27. O'Grady, John P.. "Publications: ''Missing in the Minarets: The Search for Walter A. Starr, Jr.''".
28. Renda, Matthew. (July 18, 2018). "The Mountains Are Calling: Yosemite, With Federal Judge as Guide".
29. "United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit 2013 Annual Report".