Theodore D. Chuang

Theodore David Chuang (born 1969) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and former deputy general counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Early life and education Chuang was born to a Taiwanese American family in Media, Pennsylvania, in 1969. His parents are immigrants from Taiwan. Chuang graduated summa cum laude with his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in 1991 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Career Chuang began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Dorothy Wright Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, from 1994 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, he served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. From 1998 to 2004, he served as an assistant United States attorney in the District of Massachusetts.

Federal judicial service On September 25, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Chuang to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, to the seat being vacated by Judge Roger W. Titus, who assumed senior status on January 17, 2014. On January 16, 2014, his nomination was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 10–8 vote. On April 29, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on Chuang's nomination. On May 1, 2014, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 54–43 vote. Later that day, Chuang was confirmed by a 53–42 vote. He received his judicial commission on May 2, 2014. Chuang affirmed the decision in December 2020 when the Trump administration requested to reinstate that requirement. However, the Supreme Court of the United States subsequently overruled Chuang's decision 6-3, therefore requiring women to obtain the pills in person until at least the end of the Trump presidency. In March 2025, Chuang ruled that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was likely unconstitutional and blocked Musk and Department of Government Efficiency from continuing the process of shutting down USAID. Chuang ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by employees of USAID, whose workforce had been reduced by 98 percent through DOGE cuts. This is the first ruling to constrain Musk personally as well as DOGE.