Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha

Fernando Lazaro Aenlle-Rocha (born 1961) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California and former California state court judge.

Early life and career Aenlle-Rocha earned his Artium Baccalaureus from Princeton University in 1983 and his Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1986. He began his career as a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. From 1990 to 1994, he was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. In 1994, he moved back to California and became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California.

In 1999, Aenlle-Rocha entered private practice as an associate with Stephan, Oringher, Richman & Theodora in Los Angeles. In 2000, he became a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. From 2005 to 2017, Aenlle-Rocha was a partner at White & Case, where he focused on commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, and corporate corruption investigations. He was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2017, where he served until becoming a federal judge.

Federal judicial service On August 28, 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Aenlle-Rocha to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. A hearing on his nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on December 4, 2019. On January 3, 2020, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 9, 2020, he was renominated to the same seat. On March 5, 2020, his nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote.

On December 20, 2020, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by an 82–7 vote. On December 20, 2020, his nomination was confirmed by an 80–8 vote. He received his judicial commission on December 22, 2020.