DIASPORA | Jamaican American Judge Tanya Sue Chutkan to preside over Trump's criminal trial

WASHINGTON DC, August 2, 2023 - Well respected Jamaican-American judge, Tanya Sue Chutkan will preside over Trump’s criminal trial concerning the events leading up to the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack.

Former President Donald J. Trump was indicted on Tuesday in connection with his far-reaching efforts to overturn the 2020 election, part of a continuing federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s attempts to cling to power after losing the presidency to Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The indictment was filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Federal District Court in Washington. It accuses Mr. Trump of three conspiracies: one to defraud the United States, a second to obstruct an official government proceeding and a third to deprive people of civil rights provided by federal law or the Constitution. Mr. Trump is also charged with a fourth count of obstructing an official proceeding.

Chutkan is a Jamaican American immigrant with a distinguished background as a lawyer and jurist in Washington, D.C. Since 2014, she has served as a United States district judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Chutkan was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 from George Washington University. In 1987 she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School with a Juris Doctor degree.

Prior to being nominated to the bench, she  worked at a number of prestigious law firms, including Hogan Lovells and Donovan, Leisure, Rogovin, Huge & Schiller.

She later served as a trial attorney and supervisor at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia and  became a partner at the renowned law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, where she specialized in complex civil litigation, particularly antitrust class action cases.

President Barack Obama appointed Chutkan to the bench in 2014, making her the third black woman to serve in the D.C. District Court. She said that she mainly works with federal cases like FOIA disputes and spends a great deal of time deliberating before making her decisions. On June 4, 2014, her nomination was confirmed with a unanimous 95–0 vote and the next day she received her judicial commission.

Throughout her career, Chutkan has been involved in various high-profile cases,  ruling  against the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice in different cases. She denied former President Donald Trump’s plea to withhold records from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack, and her decisions were upheld by the D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court.

With her Jamaican heritage, legal expertise, Tanya Sue Chutkan has established herself as an esteemed judge overseeing significant cases in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia 

Now she has been tapped to oversee one of the most important far reaching trials in the history of the United States, and involves charges against the former President Donald J. Trump on multiple charges.