Mary H. Murguia

Mary Helen Murguia (born September 6, 1960) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona from 2000 to 2011.

Early life and education Murguia is one of seven children of Alfred and Amalia Murguia, who emigrated from Mexico in 1950. She was born in 1960 in Kansas City, Kansas. Murguia was raised in the Kansas City community of Argentine. On December 22, 2010, she was confirmed by the United States Senate by a 89–0 vote. On January 4, 2011, she received her commission and took the oath of office. She became Chief Judge on December 1, 2021.

She had been suggested as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court in Obama's second term.

Notable rulings Elton Simpson case

On March 14, 2011, Murguia acquitted Elton Simpson of making a false statement to federal agents involving terrorism, and released him on probation with a minor fine for lesser charges. Simpson had allegedly lied to FBI agents about his intent to travel to Somalia to join up with terrorist groups to kill non-Muslims, but Murguia declined to enhance his sentence based on the government's evidence. Four years later, Simpson was one of two terrorists who attacked a free speech event in Texas, injuring an unarmed security guard and being killed in the process. Evidence indicated that after Murguia released him, Simpson became involved with the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, who immediately after the attack claimed Simpson was a "soldier for the caliphate".

Melendres v. Arpaio Murguia recused herself from the federal racial profiling case against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in February 2009. Arpaio's attorneys alleged Murguia had, "...a natural, personal bias in favor of the Plaintiffs," based upon her sister's leadership of National Council of La Raza, which has been highly critical of Arpaio.

The Melendres case was reassigned. In May 2013, Judge G. Murray Snow ruled that Arpaio had indeed engaged in racial profiling. In 2014, Snow found Arpaio had violated court orders addressing cessation of racial profiling, and began proceedings to hold Arpaio in contempt of court. Arpaio has also accused Snow of bias, and initiated previously-secret investigations into the alleged bias.

The United States of America v. Victor Manuel Raya-Vaca In 2014, a case was brought by the United States of America against Raya-Vaca, on the grounds of illegal entry, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals deemed that the defendant was judged with bias and therefore reversed the lower court’s opinion. Judge Murguia wrote in the opinion that Raya-Vaca was the victim of bias and that the government had acted without due process of his rights and therefore the legal grounds for his ejection were not a solid legal basis for his removal. Initially, Andrews was raised in a segregated and poverty-stricken area of Mobile, Alabama at a school that has since been shuttered based on their violations of the Eighth Amendment. The violation concerned the actions that the government took that disabused the plaintiffs’ rights of due process before their status was terminated. Based on statute. Cal. Civ. Code § 51.9(a)(1)(F) (1996), the panel headed by Murguia ruled that their relationship constituted by the statute and therefore Weinstein was suited to use his leverage to allegedly abuse the plaintiff.