Ada Brown (judge)

On March 15, 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Brown to serve as a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. On March 26, 2019, her nomination was sent to the Senate. Ada Brown was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Terry R. Means, who assumed senior status on July 3, 2013. On April 30, 2019, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On June 13, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. On July 30, 2019, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 79–9 vote. On September 11, 2019, her nomination was confirmed by an 80–13 vote. She received her judicial commission on September 13, 2019.

On September 3, 2013, Governor Rick Perry appointed her to serve as a Justice on the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas, Texas' largest and busiest intermediate appellate court. At the time of her appointment to the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas, at age 38, she was then the youngest sitting appellate court justice in Texas.

In 2012 and 2013, Brown was one 2.5% of attorneys under 40 selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in commercial litigation.

In a representative case, she presented evidence for plaintiffs about the technology of the ’350 patent to the jury in the Versata Development Group, Inc. v. SAP America, Inc. trial, where the jury awarded $345 million to her client, Versata. This award was increased to $391 million on final judgment. This was the 10th largest jury verdict in the US for 2011.

Brown also presented plaintiff's evidence of damages to the jury in the Medtronic v. Boston Scientific patent infringement trial, where Boston Scientific was found to have infringed Medtronic's ’364, ’358, and ’057 patents. The jury returned a $250 million verdict in favor of her client. This was the 12th largest jury verdict in the US for 2008.

Brown began her career practicing criminal law. She served as a trial prosecutor at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, where she tried over 100 jury trials to verdict as lead prosecutor. During this time, she became a felony trial prosecutor and prosecuted murders, rapes, kidnappings, and other felony crimes. She was known for taking on complex and controversial cases. She specialized in prosecuting felony internet crimes against children. In 2005, Brown was one of 2.5% of attorneys under 40 selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in criminal prosecution. Brown left the Dallas County District Attorney’s office to become a district court judge.

Ada Elene Brown (born November 8, 1974) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She is a former trial judge of the Dallas County courts and a former Justice of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas. She is the first African-American woman federal judge nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. She is also the first African American woman to sit as a federal judge in the 140- year-history of the Northern District of Texas. A citizen of the Choctaw Nation, Brown is also one of six actively serving Native American federal judges of 673 federal district court judges. When appointed to the federal bench, Brown became the only woman judge in the 233-year history of the Choctaw Nation to serve as a federal judge.

Ada Elene Brown was born on November 8, 1974 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She graduated as a valedictorian of her high school class, where she was elected both sophomore and junior class president. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Spelman College, and her Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law, both in Atlanta, Georgia. Brown is a member of Mensa and is trilingual. She is African American and Native American.