23 Facts About James Robart

James Louis Robart was born on September 2,1947 and is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

James Robart grew up in the Richmond Beach neighborhood of Shoreline, Washington, and graduated from Shoreline High School, where he was student body president.

James Robart was a legislative assistant to United States Representative John Dellenback and worked with Henry M "Scoop" Jackson on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

James Robart was the chair of the firm's Litigation Department from 1992 to 1998, and was managing partner at the firm in 2003 and 2004.

James Robart did pro bono work with Evergreen Legal Services, and independently represented Southeast Asian refugees.

James Robart is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

James Robart has been president of the Seattle Children's Home and former trustee of the Children's Home Society of Washington.

James Robart has been a trustee of his alma mater Whitman College, and was chair of the college's Board of Overseers.

On December 9,2003, Robart was nominated by President George W Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington vacated by Thomas S Zilly.

James Robart received a unanimous "well-qualified" rating from the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.

James Robart was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on June 17,2004, and received his commission on June 21,2004.

James Robart presided over a case in which a street performer raised a constitutional challenge to Seattle Center rules regulating performers' conduct.

In 2005, James 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 to freedom of speech.

In 2005, in the case of ASF Inc v City of Seattle, Robart struck down the City of Seattle's effective ban on strip clubs, finding that the city's 17-year moratorium on granting adult entertainment licenses constituted an unconstitutional prior restraint.

In 2011, James Robart dismissed a lawsuit brought by phone book companies against the City of Seattle.

James Robart found that the ordinance was a permissible restraint on commercial speech.

In February 2017, James Robart denied the government's motion to dismiss, finding that Microsoft had made a plausible First Amendment argument that these "gag orders" were akin to "permanent injunctions preventing speech from taking place before it occurs" and therefore failed strict scrutiny.

On February 3,2017, James Robart granted a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump's executive order on travel and immigration, pending review of a lawsuit brought by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

On December 23,2017, James Robart granted a nationwide injunction that blocks the administration's restrictions on the process of reuniting refugee families and partially lifted a ban on refugees from 11 mostly Muslim countries.

On July 24,2020, James Robart granted a restraining order on behalf of the justice department overruling a Seattle city ban on the use of teargas and impact munitions.

James Robart is an avid fisherman and has for many years taken annual fishing trips to Langara Island, British Columbia.

James Robart is a frequent reader of biographies, citing William Manchester's unfinished Churchill biography as his favorite.

James Robart is known for often wearing a bow tie along with his judicial robes.