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Senate confirms MVHS alum as federal judge

The U.S. Senate on Monday, Feb. 14, unanimously confirmed President Obama's nomination of Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Edward Davila to serve as a federal judge in the Northern District of California.

Davila, a graduate of Mountain View High School, will take the place of U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel of San Francisco, who took senior — or semi-retired — status in 2009.

Obama nominated Davila at the recommendation of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, in May.

Davila, 58, has been a Superior Court judge since 2001 and was appointed to the post by Gov. Gray Davis. He previously worked in private practice and as a deputy Santa Clara County public defender.

Davila was president of the Santa Clara County Bar Association in 1998 and served two terms as president of the La Raza Lawyers Association Santa Clara County.

He will be the only Hispanic judge on the court, which is based in San Francisco and has branches in San Jose and Oakland.

Davila received his bachelor's degree in 1976 from California State University, San Diego, and his law degree in 1979 from the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. His mother, Mountain View resident Dora Davila, told the Voice her son graduated from Mountain View High School and that the family has lived in Mountain View a long time.

The federal court's Northern District includes the Bay Area and coastal California from Monterey County to the Oregon border.

Bay City News Service