Tanya Sue Chutkan

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American judge (born 1962)

Tanya Sue Chutkan (born 1962) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia . She was appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama .

She was the presiding judge over the criminal trial of then-former U.S. president Donald Trump over his alleged attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election , including the events leading up to the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 . The case never went to trial and was dismissed without prejudice after Trump won the 2024 presidential election .

Early life and education

Chutkan was born in 1962 in Kingston, Jamaica .

Chutkan has a younger brother, Norman, and a younger sister, Robynne, both of whom are physicians. She is of Dougla descent. Her father Winston Chutkan is an Indo-Jamaican doctor, and her mother Noelle is an Afro-Jamaican who was one of the leading dancers at the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica .

Noelle is the daughter of Frank Hill, one of the members of the People's National Party .[_citation needed
_] Through her mother, Chutkan is a cousin of former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes .

Chutkan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 from George Washington University . She later attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School , where she was an associate editor of the _University of Pennsylvania Law Review _. She graduated in 1987 with a Juris Doctor .

Early career

From 1987 to 1990, Chutkan was in private practice at the law firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells ). From 1990 to 1991, she worked at the law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Rogovin, Huge & Schiller. From 1991 to 2002, she was a trial attorney and supervisor at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia . In 2002, Chutkan joined the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner , becoming a partner in 2007. Her practice focused on complex civil litigation and specifically antitrust class action cases.

Federal judicial service

On December 19, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Chutkan as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to a seat created pursuant to 104 Stat. 5089.

She received a hearing before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on February 25, 2014. On March 27, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote . On June 3, 2014, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 54–40 vote. On June 4, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a 95–0 vote. She received her judicial commission on June 5, 2014.

Notable cases

In February 2017, Public.Resource.Org was sued by the American Society for Testing and Materials , the National Fire Protection Association , the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers , and other entities for scanning and making available building codes and fire codes which these organizations consider their copyrighted property.

Chutkan ruled against Public.Resource.Org , ordering all of the standards to be deleted from the Internet. Public.Resource.Org appealed her ruling to the D.C. Circuit , which reversed and remanded her decision in 2018, holding that the fair use doctrines had been improperly applied. In March 2022, Chutkan issued a new ruling that would allow Public.Resource.Org to reproduce 184 standards under fair use, partially reproduce 1 standard, and deny reproduction of 32 standards that were found to differ in substantive ways from those incorporated by law; ASTM et al. has since appealed again to the D.C. Circuit.

In summer 2017, Chutkan presided over the Imran Awan and Hina Alvi fraud case.

In _[Garza v. Ha

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In February 2017, Public.Resource.Org was sued by the American Society for Testing and Materials , the National Fire Protection Association , the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers , and other entities for scanning and making available building codes and fire codes which these organi