Judge Tanya Chutkan is a United States District Judge for the District of Columbia, appointed in June 2014. She received her B.A. in Economics from George Washington University and worked for 12 years at a law firm where her clients included antitrust class action plaintiffs, as well as individual and corporate defendants involved in complex state and federal litigation. Judge Chutkan is a frequent lecturer on trial techniques and has served as a faculty member at the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.
In February 2022, Judge Chutkan shared her experiences as an African American woman in the legal profession, including how she developed a thick skin to overcome race-based comments. She advised herself to "fall back on the skills that have gotten you here and get to work" when facing criticism. Judge Chutkan also draws strength from the dignity and brilliance of Judge Constance Baker Motley and other women lawyers who came before her.
In August 2023, Judge Chutkan was assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump. Trump made posts on social media calling Judge Chutkan "highly partisan" and "VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!" because of her past comments in a separate case overseeing the sentencing of one of the defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Judge Chutkan imposed a protective order in the case limiting what evidence handed over by prosecutors the former president and his legal team can publicly disclose. She warned Trump’s lawyers that his defense should be mounted in the courtroom and “not on the internet” . Prosecutors sought the protective order after calling attention to another earlier post on Trump’s social media platform, in which he said he would be “coming after” those who “go after” him. Chutkan said that if anyone makes “inflammatory” statements about the case, she would be inclined to move more quickly to trial to prevent any intimidation of witnesses or contamination of the jury pool.
In October 2023, Judge Chutkan was thrust into the limelight as the judge in the Trump Jan. 6 trial. According to The New York Times, she is an "unflinching judge" with extensive trial experience[[6]](https://www.n...
