James Robart | |
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 | |
| Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Washington | |
| Assumed office June 28, 2016 | |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Washington | |
| In office June 21, 2004 – June 28, 2016 | |
| Appointed by | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Thomas Samuel Zilly |
| Succeeded by | John H. Chun |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Louis Robart (1947-09-02)September 2, 1947 (age 77) Seattle,Washington, U.S. |
| Education | Whitman College (BA) Georgetown University (JD) |
James Louis Robart (born September 2, 1947) is aseniorUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Robart was born inSeattle, Washington, in 1947.[1] Robart's father, Victor Robart, worked forStandard Oil of California as a ship captain.[2] James Robart grew up in the Richmond Beach neighborhood ofShoreline, Washington, and graduated from Shoreline High School, where he wasstudent body president.[2] He attained the rank ofEagle Scout.[2]
Robart received aBachelor of Arts degreemagna cum laude fromWhitman College in 1969 and aJuris Doctor fromGeorgetown University Law Center in 1973.[3][4] As a student, he was a member of theSigma Chi fraternity’s Gamma Epsilon chapter chapter atWhitman and was administrative editor of theGeorgetown Law Journal at Georgetown .[5][3] He also was alegislative assistant to United States RepresentativeJohn Dellenback and worked withHenry M. "Scoop" Jackson on theAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act.[2]
From 1973 to 2004, Robart was in private practice in Seattle with thelaw firm of Lane Powell Moss & Miller (later Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP and thenLane Powell PC).[2][3] He specialized in civil litigation.[2] He was the chair of the firm's Litigation Department from 1992 to 1998,[2] and was managing partner at the firm in 2003 and 2004.[3] As an attorney, Robart tried numerous cases, including high-profile litigation related to Washington'sInitiative 695,[3] in which he successfully represented the cities ofBainbridge Island,Bremerton andLakewood in both the trial court and theWashington Supreme Court.[2] He didpro bono work with Evergreen Legal Services, and independently represented Southeast Asian refugees.[3] He is a fellow of theAmerican College of Trial Lawyers.[2]
Robart has been president of the Seattle Children's Home and former trustee of the Children's Home Society of Washington.[6]
Robart has been a trustee of hisalma mater Whitman College, and was chair of the college's Board of Overseers.[2]
On December 9, 2003, Robart was nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Washington vacated byThomas S. Zilly.[1] He received a unanimous "well-qualified" rating from theAmerican Bar Association'sStanding Committee on the Federal Judiciary.[7][8] Robart was unanimously confirmed by theUnited States Senate on June 17, 2004, and received his commission on June 21, 2004. He tooksenior status on June 28, 2016.[1][3][9]
Robart presided over a case in which astreet performer (busker) raised a constitutional challenge toSeattle Center rules regulating performers' conduct. In 2005, Robart held that some of the regulations, such as those requiring performers to wear badges and barring them from performing within 30 feet of people waiting in line, were a prior restraint and violated performers' constitutional right tofreedom of speech.[10] On appeal, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit initially reversed in a 2-1 decision, holding that the regulations were valid.[10] After a rehearingen banc,[11] the Ninth Circuit upheld Robart's ruling, concluding that the challenged rules did not "qualify as reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions" under the current record.[12]
In 2005, in the case ofASF Inc. v. City of Seattle, Robart struck down the City of Seattle's effective ban onstrip clubs, finding that the city's 17-year moratorium on granting adult entertainment licenses constituted an unconstitutionalprior restraint.[13][14]
In 2011, Robart dismissed a lawsuit brought byphone book companies against the City of Seattle. The companies challenged the city's law that created a "yellow book" opt-out registry, allowing residents to cancel deliveries of phone books. Robart found that the ordinance was a permissible restraint oncommercial speech.[15][16] On appeal, however, theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, disagreed and reversed.[17]
In 2012 Robart presided over abreach of contract matter betweenMicrosoft andMotorola, which determined areasonable and non-discriminatory royalty rate for a portfolio ofstandard essential patents, including for several802.11 ("WiFi") andH.264 video-encoding patents.[18][19][20]
In August 2016, Robart presided over a 2012consent decree requiring theSeattle Police Department to address federal allegations ofpolice bias. During the hearing, he said "black lives matter."[21]
Robart was assigned toMicrosoft v. United States, a case brought in 2016 byMicrosoft Corp. (with support by other tech companies, includingApple,Google, andAmazon) against theU.S. Department of Justice, challenging the provision of the federalStored Communications Act that bars companies from alerting customers tosecret government surveillance of their emails. In February 2017, Robart denied the government'smotion to dismiss, finding that Microsoft had made a plausibleFirst Amendment argument that these "gag orders" were akin to "permanent injunctions preventing speech from taking place before it occurs" and therefore failedstrict scrutiny. Robart wrote: "The public debate has intensified as people increasingly store their information in thecloud and on devices with significant storage capacity. Government surveillance aided byservice providers creates unique considerations because of the vast amount of data service providers have about their customers."[22]
On February 3, 2017, Robart granted a temporary restraining order against PresidentDonald Trump'sexecutive order on travel and immigration,[23][24] pending review of alawsuit brought by Washington Attorney GeneralBob Ferguson.[25] Trump responded viaTwitter, calling the opinion "ridiculous" and disparaging Robart as a "so-called judge".[6][4][26] These comments prompted criticism from some members of Congress and commentators who claimed it endangered theindependence of the judiciary.[27] On February 9, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously upheld Robart's order and rejected the federal government's request for an emergency stay pending appeal.[28][29]
On December 23, 2017, Robart granted anationwide injunction that blocksthe administration’s restrictions on the process ofreuniting refugee families and partially lifted a ban on refugees from 11 mostly Muslim countries.[30]
On July 24, 2020, Robart granted a restraining order on behalf of the justice department overruling a Seattle city ban on the use of teargas and impact munitions.[citation needed]
Robart married Mari Jalbing in November 1980.[2] The two have beenfoster parents for many years, mostly for children fromsoutheast Asia.[6][31]
Robart is an avid fisherman and has for many years taken annual fishing trips toLangara Island,British Columbia.[2] He is also a frequent reader of biographies, citingWilliam Manchester'sunfinished Churchill biography as his favorite.[2] He is known for often wearing abow tie along with his judicial robes.[6][4]
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Washington 2004–2016 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
