Mónica Ramírez Almadani

Mónica Ramírez Almadani (born 1979) is an American lawyer who is serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California since 2023. She was the president and CEO of Public Counsel, a pro bono law firm, from 2021 to 2023.

Early life and education Mónica Ramírez Almadani was raised in Huntington Park, California, by parents who were immigrants from Mexico. She graduated from Harvard University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude. She received a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 2004. From 2017 to 2019, she worked as special counsel at Covington & Burling in their San Francisco office. From 2019 to 2021, Ramírez was a visiting professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law

In 2021, Ramírez became president of the nonprofit Public Counsel, a pro bono law firm, and left in 2023 to become a federal judge.

Notable cases as lawyer

In 2017, Ramírez represented Juan Manuel Montes, then a 23-year-old illegal immigrant deported to Mexico despite being granted relief from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or DACA. In 2018, Ramírez represented the California state legislature as amicus curiae in a Chicago suit challenging Attorney General Jeff Sessions' conditioning of grants to the end of sanctuary city policies. In 2020, Ramírez represented Kelvin Hernandez Roman, an El Salvadoran and Garden Grove, California resident who sued the Orange County Sheriff's Department for failing to comply with California sanctuary laws. Although charged with no crime, the Orange County Sheriff's Office turned him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he was held for nine months in ICE's Adelanto Detention Center. Roman's suit alleged that the county violated California Values Act.

Federal judicial service

On December 21, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Ramírez to serve as a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. On February 15, 2023, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On April 20, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–9 vote. On November 8, 2023, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 52–46 vote. On November 9, 2023, her nomination was confirmed by a 51–44 vote. She received her judicial commission on November 21, 2023.