1. Cecilia Maria Altonaga was born on December 26,1962 and is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
16 Facts About Cecilia Altonaga
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Cecilia Altonaga is the first Cuban-American woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the United States.
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Cecilia Altonaga attended Notre Dame Academy in Miami, graduating in 1980, and then received a Bachelor of Arts from Florida International University in 1983.
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Cecilia Altonaga earned her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1986.
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Cecilia Altonaga worked as an attorney in the Miami Dade County Attorney's Office from 1986 to 1987, and then served as a law clerk to Edward B Davis of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida from 1987 to 1988 before returning to the County Attorney's Office as an assistant County Attorney until 1996.
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On January 15,2003, President George W Bush nominated Altonaga to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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Cecilia Altonaga was nominated to the seat vacated by Shelby Highsmith who assumed senior status on March 15,2002.
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Cecilia Altonaga was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 6,2003, and received her commission the following day.
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On June 14,2007, Cecilia Altonaga ruled that US Sugar Corporation's practice of pumping untreated wastewater into Lake Okeechobee was in violation of the Clean Water Act.
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Cecilia Altonaga presided over the trial of Charles McArther Emmanuel, son of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, for torture.
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In July 2007, Cecilia Altonaga granted a motion to dismiss the suit because none of the involved parties resided in the United States.
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On December 5,2016, Cecilia Altonaga rejected the US Securities and Exchange Commission's $450,000 penalty against Michael Boudreaux, the City of Miami's budget director, for deceiving municipal bond investors, instead fining him $15,000.
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In 2021, Cecilia Altonaga was assigned to preside over the multidistrict litigation against stock trading company Robinhood, sued by its clients for suspending trading of GameStop stock during a national spike in the value of that stock.
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Cecilia Altonaga, presiding over the suit brought by Trump, denied a motion to dismiss by Stephanopoulos, finding that the technical definition used by the judge in the New York case did not examine the findings made by the jury.
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At 43, Cecilia Altonaga was younger than most other Hispanics or women who were being mentioned as possible nominees, which might have made her a more attractive choice to the President.
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Cecilia Altonaga married attorney George Mencio in 1986, with whom she has three daughters.