Daniel Aaron Bress


Daniel Aaron Bress is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Early life and career

Bress earned his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Harvard College, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Review. After graduating from law school, Bress served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. He then worked in the San Francisco, California office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Bress was a partner at the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Columbus School of Law and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Federal judicial service

On January 30, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Bress to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On February 6, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate. He was nominated to the seat vacated by Alex Kozinski, who retired on December 18, 2017. On May 22, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On June 20, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a party line 12–10 vote. On July 8, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a vote of 50–42 and on the following day, July 9, his nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 53–45. He received his judicial commission on July 26, 2019.

Memberships

He has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2003.