Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani was appointed to the Central District of California by President Joe Biden in 2023.
Almadani was born in 1979 in Los Angeles and raised in Huntington Park, California, the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents. She graduated from Huntington Park High School and earned her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Harvard and her law degree from Stanford Law School. She clerked for Judge Warren Ferguson of the Ninth Circuit, then worked at the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and in multiple roles at the Department of Justice including as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. She later served as a visiting clinical professor at UC Irvine School of Law and as President and CEO of Public Counsel before her federal appointment.
Education
- Stanford Law School, J.D., 2004
- Harvard University, B.A., 2001 (magna cum laude)
Career
- Law clerk, Judge Warren J. Ferguson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2004–2005
- Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney, ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, San Francisco, 2005–2009
- Roles at U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, 2009–2015 (including Assistant U.S. Attorney, Central District of California, 2012–2015)
- Special Assistant Attorney General, California (appointed by Attorney General Kamala Harris), 2015
- Special Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP, 2017–2019
- Visiting Clinical Law Professor and Co-Director, Immigrant Rights Clinic, UC Irvine School of Law, 2019–2021
- President and CEO, Public Counsel, 2021–2023
- U.S. District Judge, Central District of California, 2023–present