Colleen Kollar-Kotelly

Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
Name	Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
Birth date	April 17, 1943
Birth place	New York City, New York (state)
Occupation	Judge
Alma mater	Barnard College, Georgetown University Law Center
Office	Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Term start	1994
Term end	2011 (senior status 2011–present)

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Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a United States federal judge who served on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and presided over high-profile matters involving national security, civil rights, campaign finance, privacy law, and access to courts. Appointed to the federal bench in the administration of President Bill Clinton, she has issued decisions that intersect with institutions such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, the United States Congress, the United States Department of Justice, and numerous private-sector entities.

Early life and education

Born in New York City, she attended Barnard College where she earned an undergraduate degree before pursuing legal studies at Georgetown University Law Center. During her time in academia she engaged with legal scholarship connected to institutions like American Bar Association, Association of American Law Schools, Federal Judicial Center, and programs affiliated with Columbia University and Harvard University. Her formative years placed her in proximity to legal communities in Washington, D.C., New York City, and institutions including Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the United States Supreme Court archival resources.

Kollar-Kotelly began her legal career in private practice in Washington, D.C., working at firms and with practitioners connected to cases in United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, matters involving Antitrust Division (DOJ), and litigations touching Federal Communications Commission regulations, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and disputes involving corporations such as Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon Communications, and General Electric. Her practice intersected with attorneys from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, Center for Constitutional Rights, and bar associations including the District of Columbia Bar. She also collaborated with counsel experienced before tribunals such as the International Court of Justice, the United States Tax Court, and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the United States Senate, she assumed a judgeship on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, joining peers from the D.C. Circuit, including jurists formerly clerking for figures like Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and Judge Richard Posner. During her tenure she managed dockets encompassing litigation brought by entities such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Federal Election Commission, and state actors including the State of Florida and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She later took senior status, continued to hear cases, and participated in judicial conferences alongside members of the Federal Judicial Center, the Judicial Conference of the United States, and organizations like the Brookings Institution and the Hoover Institution.

Kollar-Kotelly presided over litigation involving National Security Agency surveillance programs, petitions by media organizations such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She issued rulings in disputes linked to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, USA PATRIOT Act, and cases that implicated policies from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Office of Administration (Executive Office of the President). Her docket included matters concerning campaign finance adjudicated against parties interacting with the Federal Election Commission and litigants tied to political committees and candidates represented before state offices such as the New York State Board of Elections and the California Secretary of State.

Her decisions addressed technology companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter in contexts of data access, subpoenas, and litigation involving Department of Justice search warrants and grand jury procedures. She handled Freedom of Information Act litigation brought against agencies like the National Archives and Records Administration, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security by plaintiffs including think tanks such as the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and academic researchers from Harvard University and Yale University.

High-profile civil rights and equal protection disputes before her involved plaintiffs linked to organizations such as NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Lambda Legal, and National Women's Law Center, and cases that interacted with statutes like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and decisions from the United States Supreme Court including precedents set by cases argued before Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Kollar-Kotelly's jurisprudence reflects engagement with statutory interpretation relevant to acts including the Freedom of Information Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and frameworks established by the Administrative Procedure Act. Her rulings reveal balancing of interests among agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, civil liberties advocates like the American Civil Liberties Union, and private entities including Microsoft and Google. Her legacy is cited in scholarship from institutions like Georgetown University Law Center, Columbia Law School, Yale Law School, and publications of the American Bar Association, informing debates within forums such as the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society. She has been discussed in legal histories alongside figures like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer, and commentators from media outlets including NPR, CNN, The New Yorker, and The Economist.

Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Category:1943 births Category:Barnard College alumni Category:Georgetown University Law Center alumni