Draft:Noël Wise

Noël Wise (born 1968) is an American lawyer who has served as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court since 2014. She is a nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Education
Wise earned a Bachelor of Science from University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1989, a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude from Nova Southeastern University Law School in 1993 and a Juris Scientiae Magister from Stanford Law School in 2002.

Career
Wise served as a law clerk for Justice Harry Lee Anstead on the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals from 1993 to 1994. She served as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division in Washington, D.C. from 1994 to 2002, where she entered through the Honors Program. From 1997 to 1998, she was detailed to serve as an assistant United States attorney in the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. From 2002 to 2004, Wise was of counsel at Stoel Rives in San Francisco. From 2004 to 2006, she worked as in-house counsel for Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco from 2004 to 2006. From 2006 to 2014, she was a partner at Wise Gleicher in Alameda, California. On November 12, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Wise to serve as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court to fill the vacancy left by the appointment of Judge Carrie McIntyre Panetta to a different court. Wise has been a supervising judge since 2019. From 2021 to 2022, she served as a judge pro tem for the California Second District Court of Appeal.

Nomination to district court
On June 12, 2024, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Wise to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. On June 13, 2024, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Wise to the seat being vacated by Judge Edward Davila, who announced his intent to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor. On July 10, 2024, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, she was questioned by Republican senators over past articles about gender. Her nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.