Nicholas Ranjan

Jagan Nicholas Ranjan (born 1978) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Education

Ranjan graduated from Grove City College in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude. He then attended the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a note editor of the Michigan Law Review. He graduated in 2003 with a Juris Doctor, cum laude.

Career

Ranjan started his legal career by serving as a law clerk to Judge Deborah L. Cook of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Upon graduation from law school, Ranjan served as a Simon Karas Fellow with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, working with the state solicitor general on the office's major appeals. On November 13, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate, which provides that nominations not acted upon during a session are considered to have expired. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Ranjan for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. On July 9, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by an 83–15 vote. On July 10, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by an 80–14 vote. He received judicial commission on July 12, 2019.

Notable rulings

In August 2020, Ranjan ordered the Trump campaign to produce evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania by Friday, August 14. The Trump campaign must answer questions from Democratic groups, or admit to having no proof of election fraud. A hearing about the evidence was set for late September. On August 23, 2020, Ranjan issued a stay on the Trump campaign's lawsuit, pending the result of a similar state-level lawsuit.

On October 10, 2020, in the case of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Boockvar, Ranjan granted judgment in favor of the Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, Kathy Boockvar, and denied the Trump campaign's claims of voter fraud and allowed ballot dropboxes to remain in service. In his decision, Ranjan concluded that "the plain language of the [Pennsylvania State] Election Code imposes no requirement for signature comparison for mail-in and absentee ballots and applications," a reasoning that was approvingly cited by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on 23 October.

Awards and recognition

Ranjan has been recognized by Chambers USA as one of the top commercial litigators in Pennsylvania multiple times, and has been a fellow with the Litigation Counsel of America and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.