The Hon. Charles R. Breyer is a senior judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Breyer was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton on July 24, 1997, and confirmed by the United States Senate on November 8, 1997. He assumed senior status on December 31, 2011.
Over the course of his judicial career, Breyer garnered local attention for his ruling against the City of San Francisco’s legislation to protect tenants from Ellis Act evictions in 2014.
Prior to his appointment, Breyer was an attorney in private practice. He supplemented his practice with service as chief assistant district attorney with the San Francisco County District Attorney’s Office (1979) and assistant special prosecutor with the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (1973 to 1974).
Breyer earned an A.B. from Harvard College in 1963. He then completed a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, in 1966.
After graduating from law school, Breyer began his legal career as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Oliver Carter of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He served in that capacity until 1967, at which time he became counsel to the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco. His time there, however, was brief. Later that year, he was hired as an assistant district attorney with the San Francisco County District Attorney's Office.
His memberships have included the United States Judicial Conference and the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. He has also served as vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission.
He is a recipient of the 34th Annual Devitt Award, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an Article III federal judge.
Breyer was born in San Francisco, California, where he attended Lowell High School. His brother, the Hon. Stephen Breyer, has served on the Supreme Court of the United States (1994 to 2022). Breyer was married to the late Sydney Goldstein. Goldstein founded City Arts & Lectures in San Francisco. The Nourse Theater was renamed in her honor after her passing in 2018.