Kandis Westmore

Kandis Arianne Westmore is currently a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Judge Westmore received her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from the University of California Berkeley in 1989. In 1997, Judge Westmore obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. During law school, she served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Saundra Brown Armstrong, U.S. District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Westmore served as a law clerk for the Contra Costa County Public Defender's Office. She then worked at an Oakland-based boutique law firm specializing in Plaintiff's civil rights litigation.

Oakland City Attorney's Office

In 1999, Judge Westmore joined the Oakland City Attorney's Office as a Deputy City Attorney, where she worked for thirteen years. During her tenure at the Oakland City Attorney's Office, Judge Westmore litigated drug nuisance abatement and code enforcement cases, and also advised city municipal agencies. At the Oakland City Attorney's Office, Judge Westmore also served as a trial attorney and a law-and-motion attorney in the Litigation Division, where she led both offensive and defensive litigation on behalf of the City of Oakland, California and its employees in various federal and state cases involving labor and employment law, civil rights, inverse condemnation, and personal injury law. For her service to the City of Oakland, Judge Westmore has been recognized by community organizations, elected officials and the City itself.

Federal Judicial Service

On February 21, 2012, Judge Westmore was appointed as U.S. Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, serving in the Oakland, California division and taking the place of prior U.S. Magistrate Judge James L. Larson.

Judge Westmore has also served as President-Elect of the Alameda County Bar Association (ACBA) and also volunteered for the ACBA Volunteer Legal Service Corporation's Pro Bono program, where she represented low-income individuals in family lawsuits. She also serves on the Northern District of California's Conviction Alternatives Program (CAP) and its Community Outreach Committee.

Judge Westmore also currently teaches Honors Evidence as an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law. She has also given a commencement speech for the 2018 graduating class of Saint Mary's College of California.

She is also currently the only sitting African American U.S. Magistrate Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Westmore and Judge Donna Ryu are also currently the only two U.S. Magistrate Judges serving in the Oakland Division of the Northern District of California.

Notable Rulings

In 2019, Judge Westmore ruled that the federal government, via law enforcement, cannot force suspects to unlock their smartphones with their fingers or with other biometric authorization features such as facial or iris recognition.

In 2018, Judge Westmore denied the release of Cole White, the alleged Charlottesville rioter with connections to white supremacist groups.

In 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed Judge Westmore's decision to appoint a receiver to satisfy a judgment awarding fees and costs in an underlying patent suit brought by an inventor pro se. Earlier in 2015, the Federal Circuit affirmed Judge Westmore's non-infringement ruling of a patent asserted by that pro se inventor against TSI Incorporated and Lockheed Martin.

• The Honorable Kandis A. Westmore, U.S. Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of California
• Judge Kandis A. Westmore: Find Opportunities To Contribute To The Cause Of Justice (2018 Saint Mary's College of California Commencement Speech)
• Ballotpedia: Judge Kandis Westmore