James Ware (judge)
Encyclopedia
James S. Ware is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
and his chambers are in San Francisco, California
.
, Ware received a B.A. in 1969 from California Lutheran University
and a J.D. from Stanford Law School
in 1972. Ware was a U.S. Army Reserve Second Lieutenant in 1972 and also served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer in 1973. Ware also served as a U.S. Army Reserve Captain in the Military Police from 1973 to 1986 after graduating from Stanford Law School.
. From 1988 to 1990, Ware was a judge on the Santa Clara County
Superior Court.
and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 28, 1990. He received his commission on October 1, 1990. He became Chief Judge of the Northern District of California on January 1, 2011, when Vaughn Walker
stepped down.
nominated Ware to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
, to replace J. Clifford Wallace, who had taken senior status. Ware had a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1997.
However, Ware's nomination unraveled amid an embarrassing scandal that ultimately resulted in a judicial reprimand, and Clinton withdrew his nomination of Ware on November 27, 1997. In 1998, Judge Ware was reprimanded by the Judicial Council of the Northern District Court of California for fabricating the story of being the brother of Virgil Ware, a 13 year old black boy shot by white teenagers in Alabama in 1963 on the same day as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
. According to a story Judge Ware had told many audiences, he was riding his bike with his brother Virgil on the handlebars when Virgil was shot and killed by white racists. The incident was a real one, however it happened to a different James Ware, as was discovered when Judge Ware's claim was published in the Alabama papers after he was nominated to the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton
. The father of the long-ago slain boy contacted the Alabama courts to report that the California judge was impersonating his own son James Ware who was an employee in a Birmingham
power plant. The Alabama courts contacted the California courts, who convened the ethics hearing. Judge Ware was reprimanded but allowed to retain his lifetime appointment as district judge.
In 1998, Clinton appointed Kim McLane Wardlaw
to the seat to which Ware had been nominated.
ownership case and RealNetworks
vs. Microsoft
suit despite "[having] little in the way of high-tech training or experience to make him particularly well suited to preside over these influential cases". In 2006, he heard the Google search terms suit. He ruled that search engine company Google.com
must turn over bulk data related to searches, in response to a government order designed to bolster support for an anti-pornography law that has already been ruled unconstitutional. In September 2009, in Rocky Mountain Bank v. Google Inc.
, he ruled that Google must provide the identity and contact information for a Gmail user that was mistakenly sent confidential information by the Rocky Mountain Bank. He also ordered Google to deactivate the Gmail account.
In 2001, Ware sentenced hacker Max Butler
to 18 months in prison for infiltrating United States Department of Defense
computers.
On November 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a writ of mandamus against Judge Ware in Cohen v. United States District Court, which found that Ware's decision to appoint lead counsel for the plaintiff in a securities fraud case was "clear error" that amounted to "usurpation of power".
On June 14, 2011, Ware ruled that former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker did not have to recuse himself before he declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Opponents of same-sex marriage rights had argued that Walker could not make an impartial decision about a law removing the right of same-sex couples to marry because he was gay, and that he must publicly state that he did not wish to marry his partner of ten years. Ware cited previous cases where challenges against female or minority judges were declined, writing, "The presumption that Judge Walker, by virtue of being in a same-sex relationship, had a desire to be married that rendered him incapable of making an impartial decision, is as warrantless as the presumption that a female judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal relief."
On November 13, 2011, Ware made a decision to throw out a lawsuit by the parents of Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano and Dominic Maciel against the Morgan Hill Unified School District. The lawsuit was over an incident on May 5, 2010, where the students came to school wearing shirts with American flags. The school sent these students home for fear of inciting violence against the Mexican-American portion of the school body. The lawsuit claimed that "their right to free expression had been violated. They added that there had been discrimination as students wearing Mexican flag colours were not censored." Ware dismissed the lawsuit on the basis that while the Supreme Court has ruled that public school students have the right to engage in non-disruptive free speech, that ruling ‘does not require that school officials wait until disruption occurs before they act’.
at Lincoln Law School of San Jose
and Santa Clara University School of Law
. Ware also is an instructor of Electronic Evidence at Golden Gate University School of Law
.
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...
and his chambers are in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.
Early life and education
Born in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Ware received a B.A. in 1969 from California Lutheran University
California Lutheran University
California Lutheran University is a university of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Thousand Oaks, California.-Mission statement:The University's mission statement is as follows:...
and a J.D. from Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
in 1972. Ware was a U.S. Army Reserve Second Lieutenant in 1972 and also served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer in 1973. Ware also served as a U.S. Army Reserve Captain in the Military Police from 1973 to 1986 after graduating from Stanford Law School.
Professional career
From 1972 until 1988, Ware worked as an attorney in private practice in Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. From 1988 to 1990, Ware was a judge on the Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
Superior Court.
Federal judicial service
Ware was nominated to his current U.S. District Court seat on August 3, 1990 by President George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 28, 1990. He received his commission on October 1, 1990. He became Chief Judge of the Northern District of California on January 1, 2011, when Vaughn Walker
Vaughn R. Walker
Vaughn R. Walker served as a district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1989 to 2011.-Biography:Walker was born in Watseka, Illinois, in 1944...
stepped down.
Failed nomination to the Ninth Circuit
On June 27, 1997, President Bill ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
nominated Ware to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
, to replace J. Clifford Wallace, who had taken senior status. Ware had a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1997.
However, Ware's nomination unraveled amid an embarrassing scandal that ultimately resulted in a judicial reprimand, and Clinton withdrew his nomination of Ware on November 27, 1997. In 1998, Judge Ware was reprimanded by the Judicial Council of the Northern District Court of California for fabricating the story of being the brother of Virgil Ware, a 13 year old black boy shot by white teenagers in Alabama in 1963 on the same day as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed on Sunday, September 15, 1963. The explosion at the African-American church, which killed four girls, marked a turning point in the U.S...
. According to a story Judge Ware had told many audiences, he was riding his bike with his brother Virgil on the handlebars when Virgil was shot and killed by white racists. The incident was a real one, however it happened to a different James Ware, as was discovered when Judge Ware's claim was published in the Alabama papers after he was nominated to the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. The father of the long-ago slain boy contacted the Alabama courts to report that the California judge was impersonating his own son James Ware who was an employee in a Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
power plant. The Alabama courts contacted the California courts, who convened the ethics hearing. Judge Ware was reprimanded but allowed to retain his lifetime appointment as district judge.
In 1998, Clinton appointed Kim McLane Wardlaw
Kim McLane Wardlaw
Kim McLane Wardlaw is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with chambers in Pasadena, California.-Education and legal training:...
to the seat to which Ware had been nominated.
Notable cases
Ware is known for hearing a number of Internet business-related cases such as the sex.comSex.com
Sex.com is an Internet domain name and web portal currently owned by Clover Holdings LTD. The domain name was the focus of one of the most publicized legal actions about ownership of domain names...
ownership case and RealNetworks
RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...
vs. Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
suit despite "[having] little in the way of high-tech training or experience to make him particularly well suited to preside over these influential cases". In 2006, he heard the Google search terms suit. He ruled that search engine company Google.com
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
must turn over bulk data related to searches, in response to a government order designed to bolster support for an anti-pornography law that has already been ruled unconstitutional. In September 2009, in Rocky Mountain Bank v. Google Inc.
Rocky Mountain Bank v. Google Inc.
Rocky Mountain Bank v. Google Inc. was a decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California holding that Google had to reveal the account information of a Gmail user who had been mistakenly sent sensitive information from Rocky Mountain Bank.In August 2009, a Rocky...
, he ruled that Google must provide the identity and contact information for a Gmail user that was mistakenly sent confidential information by the Rocky Mountain Bank. He also ordered Google to deactivate the Gmail account.
In 2001, Ware sentenced hacker Max Butler
Max Butler
Max Ray Vision , a former computer security consultant, was an online hacker charged with two counts of wire fraud and theft of nearly 2 million credit card numbers as well as approximately $86 million in fraudulent charges.- Early life :Butler grew up in Meridian, Idaho and had a younger...
to 18 months in prison for infiltrating United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
computers.
On November 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a writ of mandamus against Judge Ware in Cohen v. United States District Court, which found that Ware's decision to appoint lead counsel for the plaintiff in a securities fraud case was "clear error" that amounted to "usurpation of power".
On June 14, 2011, Ware ruled that former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker did not have to recuse himself before he declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Opponents of same-sex marriage rights had argued that Walker could not make an impartial decision about a law removing the right of same-sex couples to marry because he was gay, and that he must publicly state that he did not wish to marry his partner of ten years. Ware cited previous cases where challenges against female or minority judges were declined, writing, "The presumption that Judge Walker, by virtue of being in a same-sex relationship, had a desire to be married that rendered him incapable of making an impartial decision, is as warrantless as the presumption that a female judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal relief."
On November 13, 2011, Ware made a decision to throw out a lawsuit by the parents of Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano and Dominic Maciel against the Morgan Hill Unified School District. The lawsuit was over an incident on May 5, 2010, where the students came to school wearing shirts with American flags. The school sent these students home for fear of inciting violence against the Mexican-American portion of the school body. The lawsuit claimed that "their right to free expression had been violated. They added that there had been discrimination as students wearing Mexican flag colours were not censored." Ware dismissed the lawsuit on the basis that while the Supreme Court has ruled that public school students have the right to engage in non-disruptive free speech, that ruling ‘does not require that school officials wait until disruption occurs before they act’.
Adjunct work
Ware teaches Civil ProcedureCivil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits...
at Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Lincoln Law School of San Jose is a private, non-profit law school in San Jose, California. It is an independent institution, formerly a part of Lincoln University.-History:The school traces its roots to 1919 when Dr...
and Santa Clara University School of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law
The Santa Clara University School of Law is the law school of Santa Clara University, a Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, in the Silicon Valley region. The School of Law was founded in 1911...
. Ware also is an instructor of Electronic Evidence at Golden Gate University School of Law
Golden Gate University School of Law
Golden Gate University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Golden Gate University. Located in downtown San Francisco, California, GGU is a California non-profit corporation and is fully accredited by the American Bar Association...
.