Edgardo Ramos


Edgardo Ramos is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Early life and education

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Ramos moved as a child with his mother and six siblings to Newark, New Jersey. He earned a Bachelors of Arts in 1982 from Yale University and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from Harvard Law School.

Professional career

From 1987 until 1992, Ramos worked in private legal practice as an associate with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. From 1992 until 2002, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he prosecuted cases involving "white-collar fraud, narcotics trafficking, labor racketeering, public corruption, and money laundering." He also served as deputy chief of the Narcotics section. From 2002 until his appointment as a district court judge, Ramos was a partner with the law firm Day Pitney LLP. He also served as a commissioner on the New York City Commission to Combat Police Corruption.

Federal judicial service

On May 4, 2011, President Obama nominated Ramos to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that had been vacated by Judge Stephen C. Robinson, who resigned in 2010. On September 15, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported his nomination to the Senate floor by voice vote. The Senate confirmed his nomination on December 5, 2011 by a vote of 89–0. He received his commission on December 6, 2011.

Notable rulings

On December 3, 2018, Ramos ruled that the Trump administration did not have the authority to withhold public safety grants from sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate in immigration enforcement and that the conditions unlawfully violate the separation of powers and were arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. On February 26, 2020, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan unanimously overturned the decision stating, in part, that the conditions defined in the policy "help the federal government enforce national immigration laws and policies supported by successive Democratic and Republican administrations."
On May 22, 2019, Ramos affirmed the validity of subpoenas issued to Deutsche Bank and Capital One by two committees of the U.S. House of Representatives. The subpoenas asked for financial records relating to President Donald Trump, his adult children, and his businesses. Trump's lawyers had asked Ramos to quash the subpoenas, but Ramos said such a request was "unlikely to succeed on the merits." On May 28, Ramos granted Trump's attorneys their request for a stay so they could pursue an expedited appeal through the courts.