{{Short description|American judge (born 1960)}} {{Use American English|date=October 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Indira Talwani | honorific_suffix = | image = Judge Indira Talwani (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts | term_start = May 12, 2014 | term_end = | appointer = Barack Obama | predecessor = Mark L. Wolf | successor = | pronunciation = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1960|}} | birth_place = {{nowrap|Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.}} | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = Radcliffe College (BA)<br>University of California, Berkeley (JD) | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Indira Talwani''' (born 1960)<ref>{{cite book |last1=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |title=Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, Part 7 |date=2013 |publisher=Government Publishing Office |page=230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mwvrn3CpXvwC |access-date=April 29, 2025}}</ref> is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
==Biography==
Daughter of Manik Talwani, a geophysicist, from Punjab, India, Talwani, attended and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1978, received a Bachelor of Arts degree, ''cum laude'', in 1982, from Radcliffe College. She received a Juris Doctor in 1988 from UC Berkeley School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/who-is-indira-talwani-the-indian-american-judge-who-blocked-trumps-deportation-order/articleshow/120300195.cms | title=Who is Indira Talwani, the Indian-American judge who blocked Trump's deportation order? | work=The Times of India | date=April 16, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.segalroitman.com/pages/talwani.shtml|title=Biography at Segal Roitman LLP|publisher=|access-date=September 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927190659/http://www.segalroitman.com/pages/talwani.shtml|archive-date=September 27, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> She began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Stanley Alexander Weigel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, from 1988 to 1989. She served as an associate at the San Francisco, California, law firm of Altshuler Berzon LLP, from 1989 to 1995 and as a partner at that law firm, from 1996 to 1999. From 1999 to 2014, she served as a partner at the Boston, Massachusetts, law firm of Segal Roitman LLP, where she focused her practice on civil litigation at the state and federal trial court and appellate levels.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/24/president-obama-nominates-two-serve-united-states-district-courts|work=whitehouse.gov|title=President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the United States District Courts|via=National Archives|date=September 24, 2013}}</ref><ref name="fjc.gov">{{FJC Bio|nid=1394486|inline=yes}}</ref>
===Federal judicial service=== {{See also|2025 SNAP shutdown|Laken Riley Act#Legacy}} On September 24, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Talwani to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, to the seat vacated by Judge Mark L. Wolf, who assumed senior status on January 1, 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/24/presidential-nominations-sent-senate|work=whitehouse.gov|title=Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate|via=National Archives|date=September 24, 2013}}</ref> On February 6, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee.<ref>{{cite web|title=Executive Business Meeting|url=http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=138603a26950ad873303535a6318f123&2|work=United States Senate|publisher=Committee on the Judiciary|access-date=February 6, 2014|archive-date=February 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214063426/http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=138603a26950ad873303535a6318f123&2|url-status=dead}}</ref> Cloture was filed on her nomination on May 6, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://democrats.senate.gov/2014/05/06/cloture-filed-on-4-judicial-nominations-talwani-peterson-rosenstengal-rosenbaum/|title=Cloture filed on 4 judicial nominations (Talwani, Peterson, Rosenstengal, Rosenbaum)|publisher=|access-date=May 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121144432/https://democrats.senate.gov/2014/05/06/cloture-filed-on-4-judicial-nominations-talwani-peterson-rosenstengal-rosenbaum/|archive-date=November 21, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> On May 8, 2014, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 55–41 vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=2&vote=00134|title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Indira Talwani, of Massachusetts, to be U.S. District Judge)|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=May 8, 2014}}</ref> Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 94–0 vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=2&vote=00137| title=On the Nomination (Confirmation Indira Talwani, of Massachusetts, to be U.S. District Judge)|publisher=United States Senate|access-date=May 8, 2014}}</ref> She received her judicial commission on May 12, 2014.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>
Talwani presided over the sentencing of many parents involved in the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, including actress Felicity Huffman. Talwani sentenced Huffman to 14 days in prison, 1 year supervised release, a $30,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service after Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and honest services mail fraud for her role in the scandal. Huffman served 11 out of her 14 days.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/first-parent-college-admissions-case-sentenced-prison|title=First Parent in College Admissions Case Sentenced to Prison|date=September 13, 2019}}</ref>
On July 28, 2025, Talwani ordered the Trump administration to continue Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, blocking enforcement of that provision of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" signed earlier that month.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/28/planned-parenthood-medicaid-ruling-trump?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1|title=Judge orders Trump administration to continue Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood|website=The Guardian|date=2025-07-28|access-date=2025-12-16}}</ref> Talwani's ruling kept Planned Parenthood funded for six weeks, until the 1st Circuit permitted the Trump administration to end Planned Parenthood funding in September.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/court-allows-trump-administration-end-planned-parenthoods-medicaid-funding-2025-09-11/|title=Court allows Trump administration to end Planned Parenthood's Medicaid funding|website=Reuters|date=2025-09-11|access-date=2025-12-16}}</ref>
{{See also|Parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans}} Talwani blocked Trump administration from revoking immigration parole by issuing a temporary restraining order that extends the “family reunification parole” status of immigrants who were set to see it expire on January 14, 2026 as part of the administration’s broad crackdown on immigration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-revoking-immigration-parole/ar-AA1TXVNM/|title=Judge blocks Trump administration from revoking immigration parole|website=Politico|date=2026-01-11|access-date=2026-01-11}}</ref>
==See also== *List of Asian American jurists *List of first women lawyers and judges in Massachusetts
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{FJC Bio|nid=1394486}} *{{Ballotpedia|Indira_Talwani}}
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{{United States 1st Circuit district judges}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Talwani, Indira}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:American jurists of Indian descent Category:California lawyers Category:Radcliffe College alumni Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Category:Massachusetts lawyers Category:UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Category:United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama Category:American people of Punjabi descent