1. Colleen Constance Kollar-Kotelly was born on April 17,1943 and is an American lawyer serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and was previously presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
From 1948 to 1959, he worked in US foreign assistance programs in Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, where Colleen Kollar-Kotelly attended bilingual schools.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, DC Colleen Kollar-Kotelly earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Catholic University of America and her Juris Doctor from Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law in 1968.
From 1969 to 1972, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was an attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Appellate Section, after which she became chief legal counsel for St Elizabeths Hospital, Department of Health and Human Services, from 1972 to 1984.
On October 3,1984, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was nominated as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by President Ronald Reagan; she took her oath of office on October 21.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly served as Deputy Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division from 1997 to 1997.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 20,1997, and received commission on March 26,1997.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly took her oath of office on May 12,1997.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to serve on the Financial Disclosure Committee, and later as Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where she served from 2002 to 2009.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly received attention from a 2006 article in The Washington Post describing her administration of the FISC, and in particular, what weight evidence taken from warrantless searches should be given to issuing subsequent search warrants for suspects of terrorism and espionage.
On July 14,2004, barely two months after President Bush was forced to end National Security Agency domestic internet metadata collection by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court order allowing the NSA to resume domestic internet metadata collection.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied a last-minute appeal by Saddam Hussein's legal team, stating that the United States has no right to interfere with the judicial processes of another nation's courts.
On March 19,2009, in response to a joint lawsuit brought by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction whereby she blocked a rule that would permit visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that her decision to block the change of rule was because there was no environmental analysis performed and therefore the Interior Department "ignored substantial information in the administrative record concerning environmental impacts" of the rule.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly presided over the Espionage Act case against Dr Stephen Jin-Woo Kim after he told a reporter that North Korea would test its nuclear program.
In 2017, Kollar-Kotelly presided over ACLU v Trump and Pence.
On October 30,2017, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump's ban on transgender individuals from serving in the military.
On May 14,2024, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Lauren Handy to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for her part in blocking access to an abortion clinic, a violation of the FACE Act.
On May 31, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Paulette "Paula" Harlow to two years in federal prison and 36 months of supervised release for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act during a pro-life demonstration at an abortion clinic in 2020.
In October 2024, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found Dominic Box, who participated in the January 6,2021 United States Capitol Attack, guilty on six charges.
On February 6,2025, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary ruling limiting the Department of Government Efficiency's access to the Treasury Department's payment system, which plaintiffs allege would allow the Department to access the personal information of millions of Americans.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly arranged a hearing for February 24,2025 to consider a preliminary injunction.