Kathleen M. Williams

Kathleen Mary Williams (born 1956) is United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She previously served as the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida.

Early life and education Williams graduated from Duke University with her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in history, in 1978 and from the University of Miami School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1982.

Career Following law school graduation, Williams became a law clerk for the firm of Colson & Hicks, P.A. in Miami, Florida, from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1984 she was an associate attorney with Fowler, White, Burnett, Hurley, Banick & Strickroot The United States Senate confirmed Williams by unanimous consent on August 2, 2011. She received her judicial commission on August 4, 2011. Her order was then vacated by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in June 2020.

In August 2025, Williams ruled in favor of a coalition of environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, ordering that the immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz be closed within 60 days and that no new detainees be brought to the facility, due to the irreparable harm that the facility was causing to the Florida Everglades. This ruling was stayed pending appeal by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In May 2026, Williams reopened the high-profile case Trump v. Internal Revenue Service (1:26-cv-20609), in which President Donald Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization had sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns. After the parties reached a settlement creating a controversial $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" and voluntarily dismissed the suit, Williams responded to allegations from 35 former federal judges that the litigation amounted to a fraud on the court. In June 2026, she issued further orders requiring additional briefing and hearings on whether the lawsuit was collusive and filed for an improper purpose. On July 14, Williams voided a legal agreement between President Donald Trump and federal agencies that granted him immunity from tax audits, stating in her decision that the suit had been filed for an "improper purpose." The decision explicitly prevents everyone who's involved with the case, including Donald Trump and his sons, from citing the settlement in future legal proceedings.