Derrick Kahala Watson

Derrick Kahala Watson (born September 9, 1966) is an American lawyer who serves as the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. A native of Hawaii, he graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School before entering private practice in San Francisco. He served as a federal prosecutor for some years in California and then Hawaii, rising to become chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii. He was appointed to the federal bench in 2013 by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in 2013. Watson is the fourth Native Hawaiian federal judge in U.S. history, and the only one currently serving. Watson acted against the Trump travel ban in 2017. Early life and education Derrick Kahala Watson was born in 1966, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Honolulu police officer and a worker at a local bank. He graduated from the Kamehameha Schools in 1984 and received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude from Harvard University in 1988. Watson was the first in his family to graduate college. Watson received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1991, and was admitted to practice law in California the same year. Barack Obama and Neil M. Gorsuch were members of his graduating class.