Miranda Du | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Nevada | |
| In office September 2, 2019 – September/October 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Gloria Navarro |
| Succeeded by | Andrew P. Gordon |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Nevada | |
| Assumed office March 30, 2012 | |
| Appointed by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Roger L. Hunt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1969 (age 55–56) |
| Education | University of California, Davis (BA) University of California, Berkeley (JD) |
Miranda Mai Du (born 1969) is an American lawyer who has served as aUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Nevada. As a district judge, Du has presided over a number of noteworthy cases, including a number regardingvoting rights. She served as the chief judge of the court 2019 to 2024.
Du was born inCà Mau,Vietnam, in 1969.[1][2] During theVietnam War, her father had been a supporter of the U.S.-backedArmy of the Republic of Vietnam, and the family left toseek asylum in Malaysia when Du was nine years old,[3] fleeing the countryby boat.[4][5] Du's family spent nearly a year in Malaysianrefugee camps before ultimately being granted asylum in the United States,[3] being sponsored by a family inWinfield, Alabama.[6][7] Growing up, Du and her family lived in a number of places across the United States, includingWinfield, Alabama,[4] where her father worked on a dairy farm.[5] The family also lived at various times inTuscaloosa, Alabama;Seattle, Washington; andOakland, California.[4] Du participated inUpward Bound in high school.[3]
Du received aBachelor of Arts fromUniversity of California, Davis, in 1991,[8][1] graduating with honors in history and economics.[4] She earned herJuris Doctor fromUniversity of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1994.[1][5][8]
Upon graduating from law school, Du was admitted to the bar in Nevada in 1994 and in California in 1995.[2] She took a job as an associate at the law firm McDonald Carano Wilson LLP in 1994 and was promoted to partner in 2002.[2] She practiced for about one year inLas Vegas,[4] before transferring to the firm'sReno, Nevada office.[4] Du practiced employment law,[2][3] serving as chair of her firm's employment and labor practice group.[3][4]
On August 2, 2011, PresidentBarack Obama nominated Du to replace JudgeRoger L. Hunt, who assumedsenior status.[8] A substantial majority of theAmerican Bar Association'sStanding Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which rates the qualifications of judicial nominees, rated Du as "qualified" for the post, with a minority rating her "not qualified" (the committee rates on a three-tier scale: well qualified, qualified, and not qualified).[9] Du's nomination and confirmation were strongly supported by Nevada's two U.S. senators,Harry Reid (Democrat) andDean Heller (Republican),[5][10] as well as theCongressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.[6][7][11] Her confirmation was opposed by some Republican senators, who viewed her as too inexperienced and cited a sanction against her in 2007 by a Nevada federal court.[5]
On November 3, 2011, theSenate Judiciary Committee reported her nomination to theSenate floor by a 10–8 vote.[5][12] On March 28, 2012, Du's nomination was confirmed by a 59–39 vote.[13][14] She received her commission two days later.[1] Du became the firstAsian Pacific American to serve as anArticle III judge in Nevada.[11]
As a new district judge, Du initially worked in Las Vegas, but after about a year transferred her chambers to Reno,[4] where she remains based.[15] She became chief judge of the court on September 2, 2019,[16] after JudgeGloria Navarro finished her term as chief judge.[4] Du served as chief judge of the court during thecoronavirus pandemic, during which all federal trials and naturalization ceremonies in the judicial district were postponed.[17] Her term as chief judge ended in September or October 2024. Du is part of the court's Patent Pilot Program,[4] which allows judges who are not part of the program to have newpatent andplant variety protection cases randomly reassigned to a judge who is participating in the program.[18]
In February 2020, a Nevada prison inmate was sentenced to four years in prison for making threats of violence against Du.[15]
In 2016, Du granted apreliminary injunction sought by members of two NevadaNative American tribes (thePyramid Lake Paiute andWalker River Paiute), compelling theWashoe County registrar to set upearly voting polling places at the tribes' reservations (inNixon andSchurz), and to set up anElection Day polling place at Nixon. In the absence of the ruling, many tribal members would have had to travel nearly 100 miles round trip to reach polling sites, and Du ruled that Section 2 of theVoting Rights Act of 1965 required the state to take the location of their reservations into account when planning polling locations. Du denied the plaintiffs' request to require the state to set up in-person voter registration locations at the reservations, holding that the tribes lacked standing to seek that form of relief.[19][20]
In April and May 2020, Du twice rejected requests made by the right-wing groupTrue the Vote and Nevada Right to Life seeking to cancel Nevada'smostly all-mailprimary elections, which was put in place byNevada Secretary of StateBarbara Cegavske because in-person voting riskedspreading COVID-19.[21][22] Du held that the groups lacked standing to seek to block an all-mail election and that "Defendants' interests in protecting the health and safety of Nevada's voters and to safeguard the voting franchise in light of the COVID-19 pandemic far outweigh any burden on Plaintiffs'right to vote, particularly when that burden is premised on a speculative claim of voter fraud resulting in dilution of votes."[21]
In May 2020, Du issued a decision granting Fair Maps Nevada (apolitical action committee backed by the NevadaLeague of Women Voters) additional time to collect voter signatures necessary to put aquestion on the ballot to create an independent Nevadaredistricting commission. Du held that because the COVID-19stay-at-home order issued by the Nevada authorities effectively prevented Fair Maps Nevada from gathering signatures for the period that the order was in effect, the Nevada Secretary of State's decision to refuse to extend the deadline to collect signatures was unreasonable and violated the First Amendment.[23] Du therefore extended the deadline to August 2020.[23] However, Du declined Fair Maps Nevada's request to allowelectronic signature gathering.[23]
In 2015, Du denied a request by a number of rural Nevada counties, mining companies, and ranchers seeking a preliminary injunction to block aU.S. Department of the Interior policy that restricted development on federal lands in Nevada and eastern California to protect thegreater sage grouse.[24] Du held that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate imminent,irreparable harm, a prerequisite for obtaining a preliminary injunction.[25] In 2020, Du sided with theU.S. Forest Service and conservationists in upholding the Forest Service's power to prohibitoff-roading within a 4 miles (6.4 km) "buffer area" in theMono Basin along the California-Nevada border for a three-month period, to protect the greater sage grousemating grounds.[26] The Sierra Trail Dogs Motorcycle and Recreation Club sued the Forest Service over the rule, which forced the postponement of the club's annualdirt bike race; Du held that under theNational Environmental Policy Act, the Forest Service's prohibition was a minor variation of the previously issuedenvironmental impact statement, and therefore the agency was not required to conduct a supplemental environmental review.[26]
In 2019, Du rejected a request by the Nevada state government for apreliminary injunction to block theU.S. Department of Energy from shipping weapons-gradeplutonium from South Carolina'sSavannah River Site to theNevada National Security Site.[27][28][29] Du found that an injunction was unwarranted because Nevada "cannot demonstrate the likelihood of irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary injunctive relief or that the balance of hardships tips in its favor".[29] Nevada's appeal to the Ninth Circuit was dismissed asmoot because the federal government completed the plutonium shipments to Nevada.[30][31]
In 2015, Du granted thehabeas petition of Jose Echavarria, a death row inmate convicted of killing an FBI agent during abank robbery in 1991. Echavarria's attorneys argued that his trial was unfair because the presiding judge was also being investigated by the FBI – a fact thedefense did not learn until after the trial ended. Du agreed and ruled that Echavarria was entitled to a new trial.[32][33][34] Du's ruling was upheld by theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[33][35]
Du also presided over the criminal case against a doctor and hospital executive fromWinnemucca in rural Nevada who illegally wrote prescriptions foropioids without a medical purpose. The executive pleaded guilty to distribution of acontrolled substance;[36] Du sentenced him to ayear and a day in federal prison, a $125,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.[37]
Du was assigned to preside overWalden v. State of Nevadaex rel.Nevada Department of Corrections, a major employment suit brought by several hundred Nevada state prison guards against the state.[38][39][40] The guards allege that they are entitled to payment for tasks (such as debriefings, equipment collection, and uniform inspections) completed just before their shifts officially begin.[38][39][40] In 2018, Du found that the state of Nevada had waived itssovereign immunity from suit byremoving the guards' case from state court to federal court; that the pre-shift activities were "integral and indispensable" to the guards' jobs; and that the guards could thus pursue federalFair Labor Standards Act claims against the state relating to overtime pay.[38][39][40] Du dismissed the guards' breach-of-contract claims.[38][39][40]
In 2019, Du dismissed a suit brought by three Texas women who argued thatNevada's legal prostitution law (the only one of its kind in the United States) conflicted with federalsex trafficking laws and therefore violated theSupremacy Clause of theU.S. Constitution. The women alleged that they had been victims of sexual violence in Nevada attributable to Nevada's legal brothels.[41][42][43] In dismissing the suit, Du wrote: "While the Court empathizes with Plaintiffs for theirlived experiences, the Court cannot adjudicate Plaintiffs' claims because Plaintiffs fail to establishstanding to confer jurisdiction upon this Court."[41][43]
In May 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Nevada, Du denied a church's request for an emergency injunction that would allow it to exceed a 50-person cap on religious gatherings imposed by GovernorSteve Sisolak to slow the spread ofCOVID-19. The church asserted that the 50-person limit violated theirright to free exercise of religion and sought a court order allowing the church to exceed the limit forPentecost Sunday services. Du denied the motion, writing that although the church members undoubtedly had "sincerely held religious convictions" they had failed to demonstrate "the diligence required to warrant emergency relief" because they had waited until one business day before Pentecost Sunday to seek an emergency injunction.[44]
In September 2020, Du ruled thatTesla, Inc. could not be sued for defamation after falsely alleging to several news outlets that a former employee, Martin Tripp, may "come back and shoot people" at Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada.[45] In the same ruling, Du refused to dismiss Tesla's suit against Tripp for leaking a Tesla document.[45]
In April 2025, Du ruled that "atower dump is a search and the warrant law enforcement used to get it is a general warrant forbidden under the Fourth Amendment" but that "the Court will not order any evidence suppressed".[46][47]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Nevada 2012–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Nevada 2019–2024 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
