Irma Elsa Gonzalez

Irma Elsa Gonzalez
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
In office March 29, 2013 – October 25, 2013
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
In office 2005–2012
Preceded by	Marilyn L. Huff
Succeeded by	Barry Ted Moskowitz
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
In office August 12, 1992 – March 29, 2013
Appointed by	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	J. Lawrence Irving
Succeeded by	Cynthia Ann Bashant
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
In office 1984–1991
Personal details
Born	(1948-03-29) March 29, 1948 Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Stanford University James E. Rogers College of Law (formerly University of Arizona College of Law)

Irma Elsa Gonzalez (born March 29, 1948 in Palo Alto, California) is a retired American judge, who was the first Mexican-American female federal judge. She is married to former federal prosecutor and trial attorney Robert S. Brewer.

Education and early career

Gonzalez completed a bachelor's degree at Stanford University in 1970, and a law degree at the University of Arizona in 1973. She clerked for William Frey of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in 1973-75.

Gonzalez worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney for Arizona in 1975-79, and then for the Central District of California in 1979–81. She was in private practice in San Diego from 1981–84.

Judge

President Ronald Reagan appointed Gonzalez as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of California in 1984. California Governor Pete Wilson appointed Gonzalez as a state judge on the San Diego Superior Court in 1991.

On April 9, 1992, President George H.W. Bush nominated Gonzales to be a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, to fill the seat vacated by J. Lawrence Irving. The Senate confirmed her nomination on August 11, 1992. She served as the chief judge of the Southern District from 2005 to 2012. Gonzalez took senior status on March 29, 2013, and retired on October 25, 2013.

Sources

• Irma Elsa Gonzalez at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Legal offices
Preceded by J. Lawrence Irving	Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California 1992–2013	Succeeded by Cynthia Ann Bashant