Charles Breyer
Chair of theUnited States Sentencing Commission
Acting December 2018 – August 5, 2022
President	Donald Trump Joe Biden
Preceded by	William H. Pryor Jr.
Succeeded by	Carlton W. Reeves
Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California
Incumbent
Assumed office December 31, 2011
Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California
In office November 12, 1997 – December 31, 2011
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	D. Lowell Jensen
Succeeded by	William Orrick III
Personal details
Born	Charles Roberts Breyer (1941-11-03)November 3, 1941 (age 84) San Francisco,California, U.S.
Relatives	Stephen Breyer (brother)
Education	Harvard University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (JD)

Charles Roberts Breyer (born November 3, 1941) is asenior United States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California. Breyer served as chairman of theUnited States Sentencing Commission from 2018 to 2022.

Breyer was born to aJewish family inSan Francisco,California. He is the younger brother ofStephen Breyer, who served as a justice of theU.S. Supreme Court from 1994 to 2022.^[1] Charles and Stephen were active in theBoy Scouts of America and achieved theEagle Scout rank.^[2][3]

Breyer attendedLowell High School. He received aBachelor of Arts degree fromHarvard College in 1963 and aJuris Doctor from theUniversity of California, Berkeley, in 1966.^[4] He was alaw clerk to JudgeOliver Carter of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1966 to 1967. He was a counsel for theLegal Aid Society ofSan Francisco in 1967, and then anassistant district attorney for the City and County ofSan Francisco, California, from 1967 to 1973.^[4]

Breyer was an assistant special prosecutor on theWatergate Special Prosecution Force from August, 1973 to November, 1974^[5] and then entered private practice in San Francisco from 1974 to 1997, interrupted by a brief stint again as chief assistant district attorney of the City and County of San Francisco in 1979.

On July 24, 1997, Breyer was nominated by PresidentBill Clinton to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated byD. Lowell Jensen. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on November 8, 1997, and received his commission on November 12, 1997.^[6] He took senior status on December 31, 2011. He served as a member of theUnited States Judicial Conference from 2006 to 2010. He served as a Member of the United StatesJudicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation from 2011 to 2018. He served as vice chair of theUnited States Sentencing Commission from 2013 to 2016 and as a member of the same commission from 2017 to 2022.

Stephen Breyer has recused himself from appeals of cases tried by his brother, includingOlympic Airways v. Husain,Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker,United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative,Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms,^[7]Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds andCity and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan.^{[8][9][10][11]}

• Breyer presided over theEd Rosenthal trial in 2007, a federal prosecution for distribution of marijuana for medical use. This case was controversial because Breyer sentenced Rosenthal, who faced a possible sentence of 100 years for growing marijuana, to just one day in prison.^[12] He also presided over the stock-options backdating trial ofBrocade Communications Systems CEOGregory Reyes in 2007.

• In 2014, he ruled against the city of San Francisco's legislation to protect tenants from Ellis Act evictions.^[13] He presided over the 2014 criminal case involving San Francisco police theft^[14] and racist texting, in which his court order was blamed for the delay in releasing information.^[15]

• Following theVolkswagen emissions scandal, Breyer had approved a $16.5 billion settlement for US consumers. Volkswagen agreed to redeem an estimated 475,000 diesel automobiles in the US.^[16]

• In 2025, he ruled against theTrump administration's federalization of theCalifornia National Guard inNewsom v. Trump,^[17] but the administration appealed and a stay of the ruling was issued hours later.^[18] Later, he ruled that the administration not to use National Guard or military troops for civilian law enforcement in California.^[19]

Breyer was married to the late Sydney Goldstein,^[20] who foundedCity Arts & Lectures in San Francisco in 1980 and in whose honor theNourse Theater was renamed after her death in 2018.^[21]

• List of Jewish American jurists

• Charles Breyer at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.

• 1941 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American Jews
• 20th-century American judges
• 20th-century American lawyers
• 21st-century American Jews
• 21st-century American judges
• Harvard College alumni
• Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
• Lawyers from San Francisco
• Members of the United States Sentencing Commission
• UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
• United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• FJC Bio template with ID same as Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges