Michael W. Fitzgerald

Michael Walter Fitzgerald (born in 1959) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Early life and education Fitzgerald was born in Los Angeles, California in 1959. He earned an Artium Baccalaureus from Harvard College in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1985. From 1985 to 1986, Fitzgerald served as a law clerk for Judge Irving Kaufman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Career From 1988 to 1991, Fitzgerald was an assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California. From 1998, until his appointment to the Federal bench, Fitzgerald was part of a small Los Angeles law firm, Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey, which handles white collar criminal defense and business litigation. On March 15, 2012, the Senate confirmed Fitzgerald by a 91–6 vote. He received his commission the same day.

Notable ruling In February 2018, Fitzgerald's ruling in Sean Hall and Nathan Butler's copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift received international attention.

Personal

Fitzgerald is openly gay and was the first openly LGBT person to be appointed to the federal bench in California.