Diane Gujarati


Diane Gujarati is an American lawyer who currently serves as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She is a nominee to become a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Biography

Gujarati received her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1990 and her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1995. She began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge John M. Walker Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1995 to 1996.
Prior to joining the United States Attorney's Office, Gujarati was an associate in the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP from 1996 to 1999. From 2006 to 2008, she was deputy chief of the Appeals Unit in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Prior to her tenure as deputy chief of the Criminal Division, from 2008 to 2012, she served as deputy chief and then chief of the White Plains Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Since 2012, Gujarati been the deputy chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division since 1999. She previously served as an adjunct professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law.

Failed nomination to district court under Obama

On September 13, 2016, President Obama nominated Gujarati to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, to the seat vacated by Judge John Gleeson, who resigned on March 9, 2016. Her nomination drew no controversy, but it occurred late in Obama's Presidency and was never acted on. Her nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.

Renomination to district court under Trump

In August 2017, Gujarati was one of several candidates pitched to New York senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand by the White House as judicial candidates for vacancies on the federal courts in New York. On May 10, 2018, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Gujarati to serve as a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. On May 15, 2018, her nomination was sent to the Senate. If she is confirmed, Gujarati will become the first Indian American to serve as an Article III federal judge in New York. On August 1, 2018, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On September 13, 2018, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 21–0 vote.
On January 3, 2019, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On April 8, 2019, President Trump announced the renomination of Gujarati to the district court. On May 21, 2019, her nomination was sent to the Senate, she was renominated to the same seat. On June 20, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote. Her nomination is currently pending before the full United States Senate.