Barbara Jacobs Rothstein

Barbara Jacobs Rothstein (born 1939) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, Rothstein received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1960 and a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1966. She was in private practice in Boston, Massachusetts from 1966 to 1968. She worked for the Washington State Attorney General's Office from 1968 to 1977, where she worked as assistant attorney general and chief trial attorney for the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division. She was also an adjunct professor at the University of Washington Law School from 1975 to 1977. She was a judge of the Superior Court of Washington in King County, Washington from 1977 to 1980.

Federal judicial service

On December 3, 1979, Rothstein was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington created by 92 Stat. 1629.

In August 2025, Rothstein tossed many conditions the Trump administration tried to impose on existing grants, which included not using the funds for abortion, DEI, or "gender ideology", as well as requirements that the grant recipients cooperate with ICE. Rothstein ruled that Congress, not the president, holds the power to set conditions on federal funding.

Personal life In January 1969, Rothstein married Ted L. Rothstein, a Seattle-based neurologist with whom she had one child.