It was Trump himself who appointed Immergut to the federal Bench.
Before that, Immergut had a lengthy career in public service, including personally interviewing Monica Lewinsky and contributing to the 1998 independent counsel report that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
Immergut did not immediately return a request for comment Monday. Here is more on her background.
Trump appointed her during his first term
In late 2018, Trump nominated Immergut for a lifetime federal judgeship in the US District Court for the District of Oregon. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported Immergut’s nomination out of committee by a 20-2 vote.
The two who opposed her were Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and then-Senator Kamala Harris (D-California). Immergut was confirmed by the Senate in 2019 by voice vote.
Trump does not appear to know or remember Immergut well, repeatedly and mistakenly referring to the judge as a man yesterday as he railed against the temporary restraining order.
“I appointed the judge, and he goes like that,” Trump told reporters.
“So, I wasn’t served well. Obviously, if he made that decision - Portland is burning to the ground. You have agitators, instigators, all you have to do is look at your television, turn on your television, read your newspapers.
“It’s burning to the ground. The governor, the mayor, the politicians, they’re petrified for their lives. And that judge, he ought to be ashamed of himself.”
Immergut’s rulings have also been blasted by others in Trump’s orbit, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who called the first order a “legal insurrection” in a post on X.
She was born in New York and attended school in Massachusetts and California
Immergut, 64, was born in Brooklyn and attended Amherst College and the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law.
After graduating from law school in 1987, Immergut worked for one year as a litigation associate in the Washington DC office of the firm Covington and Burling. From 1988 to 1992, she served as an assistant US Attorney in the Central District of California.
She has spent the bulk of her career in Oregon
Before her appointment to the federal Bench, Immergut served 10 years as a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, where she was assigned to serious crime cases.
In 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Immergut as US Attorney for the District of Oregon, a role she served in until 2009. She also served as an assistant US Attorney in the District of Oregon from 2001 to 2003.
In responses to a questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2019, Immergut said that as a US Attorney, she had presided over about 250 trials and handled more than 100 civil motions.
“I am one of approximately four judges on our court assigned to handle death penalty eligible aggravated murder cases.
“I have been specially assigned complex civil cases, including multi-party asbestos litigation, insurance coverage, construction defect matters, and employment discrimination cases, to name a few,” she wrote.
“I have also handled dozens of judicial settlement conferences in both civil and criminal cases. In addition, during the past year, I have presided over our court’s drug diversion programme and work with a team to get drug offenders into treatment.”
She interviewed Monica Lewinsky for the Starr Report
From May to October 1998, Immergut took leave from the Multnomah County Circuit Court to work for independent counsel Kenneth Starr during his investigation into Clinton.
During the investigation, Immergut - in her role as associate independent counsel - was one of two lawyers who personally questioned Lewinsky about her affair with Clinton.
Though many considered their questions to be overly invasive, Immergut later defended them, saying she needed to ask Lewinsky “very detailed information about those [sexual] contacts because the perjury allegation was dependent on the details of the President’s testimony.”
Immergut appears to be slated to teach a course at Stanford Law School in the next northern spring titled “The Role of the Special Counsel: From Watergate to Jack Smith.”
She plays a role in approving government surveillance applications
In May 2024, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Immergut to serve a seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a specialised court in DC whose primary role is to review and approve the US Government’s applications to conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches to gather foreign intelligence.
The 11 federal district judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court must undergo additional background investigations to access top-secret and sensitive information.
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