Noël Wise

Noël Wise (; born 1968) is an American lawyer who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California since 2024. She previously served as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court from 2014 to 2024.

Education

Wise earned a Bachelor of Science from University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1989, a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude from Nova Southeastern University Law School in 1993 and a Juris Scientiae Magister from Stanford Law School in 2002.

Career

Wise served as a law clerk for Justice Harry Lee Anstead on the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals from 1993 to 1994. She served as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division in Washington, D.C. from 1994 to 2002, where she entered through the Honors Program. From 1997 to 1998, she was detailed to serve as an assistant United States attorney in the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. From 2002 to 2004, Wise was of counsel at Stoel Rives in San Francisco. From 2004 to 2006, she worked as in-house counsel for Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco. From 2006 to 2014, she was a partner at Wise Gleicher in Alameda, California. On July 10, 2024, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, she was questioned by Republican senators over several magazine articles she had written while serving as a judge. In a 2017 article for Time magazine, Wise questioned how laws that permit or prohibit conduct based on whether someone is a man or a woman should be applied to the approximately five U.S. children born each day with chromosomal or other medical irregularities such that doctors are unable to designate the sex at birth. In a 2020 article for The Atlantic, Wise argued that the judicial branch should "resemble the full range of people in America's communities." She stated "a diverse judicial branch is not a superficial optic" but instead that "Americans are more prone to have confidence and trust in the judicial branch of government if it includes judges who share their physical traits, experiences, or other aspects of their identity." On August 1, 2024, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote. On November 21, 2024, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 50–49 vote. On December 11, 2024, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote, with Senator Joe Manchin voting against confirmation. She received her judicial commission on December 19, 2024.