Rita F. Lin

Rita Faye Lin (born 1978) is an American lawyer who is serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She previously served as an associate judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court.

Lin earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in 2000 and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2003.

From 2003 to 2004, Lin served as a law clerk for Judge Sandra Lynch of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She joined Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco as an associate in 2004 and later became a partner at the firm. From 2014 to 2018, she served as an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of California. She was appointed to serve as a judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018. Lin is an adjunct professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where in the fall 2021 semester she co-taught a course on criminal procedure.

Lin worked pro bono as co-counsel against the Defense of Marriage Act, which was declared unconstitutional on February 22, 2012, in U.S. District Court in California.

Federal judicial service

On July 29, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Lin to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. On August 1, 2022, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Lin to the seat vacated by Judge Edward M. Chen, who assumed senior status on May 17, 2022. On November 30, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, she was questioned about a 1998 article she wrote while a student at Harvard College - she was a junior at the time. In the article, Lin wrote that members of the Christian coalition are "bigots". Lin said she no longer agrees with that view.

On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. She was renominated on January 23, 2023. On February 9, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–9 vote. On September 19, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 52–45 vote. Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 52–45 vote. She received her judicial commission on October 4, 2023. Lin is the second Asian Pacific American woman—and first Chinese American woman—to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Lin has a hearing disability.