Jennifer Thurston Biography – Jennifer Thurston Wiki

Jennifer L. Thurston serves as a judge at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, a Democrat, she took over the position from the Hon. Lawrence J. O’Neill on September 12, 2021. Her confirmation by the Senate came on December 17, 2021, and she officially began her duties on December 27, 2021.

Judge Thurston initially joined the Eastern District of California as a magistrate judge in 2009. She served in this capacity until her appointment to her current role in 2021, as noted in her official biography on the Eastern District of California website.

Prior to her judicial career, Judge Thurston was a seasoned litigator, dealing with various legal matters such as civil rights, wrongful death cases, election law issues, and employment disputes. Her practice spanned federal and state courts, as well as administrative law proceedings.

Judge Thurston became a Certified Appellate Specialist in 2005 and handled more than 100 appeals and writs in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Fifth District Court of Appeal, and the California Supreme Court. Judge Thurston served on the Appellate Law Specialization Committee to the California State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization and helped to refine specialization standards, to evaluate prospective specialists and to draft and grade specialization examinations.

In addition to her role as a District Judge, she is the ADR Judge for the Fresno Division of the Eastern District of California and a member of the District’s Technology User Group, the Courthouse Security Committee, and the Court’s Budget Committee. Before her appointment to her current position, she was the Court’s Chief Magistrate Judge and served on the Ninth Circuit’s Magistrate Judge Executive Board, the Technology Subcommittee of the Ninth Circuit Magistrate Judge Executive Board, a Board Member on the Federal Magistrate Judge Association, and the Editor of the FMJA’s electronic magazine, The Bulletin.

In 2019, Chief Judge of the United States Supreme Court John G. Roberts, appointed her to serve on the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on the Judicial Branch.

Education

Judge Thurston is a graduate of Duke University, where she earned a Master of Laws, California Pacific School of Law, where she earned a Juris Doctorate and CSU, Bakersfield, where her B.S. in Business Administration was awarded cum laude.

Jennifer Thurston Age

Judge Jennifer L. Thurston (formerly Jennifer Leigh Calderwood) was born in 1967 in Bakersfield, California, U.S.

Jennifer Thurston Political Party

Judge Jennifer Thurston was appointed by Joe Biden of the Democratic Party.

Jennifer Thurston Salary

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston receives an annual salary of $247,400.

Immigrants

On April 29, 2025, U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston ruled that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the Eastern District of California cannot stop illegal immigrants without reasonable suspicion, or deport them via “voluntary departure,” unless that person is explained their rights and agrees to leave, according to The Associated Press.

The decision comes after dozens of people were arrested in January during Border Patrol’s “Operation Return to Sender.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and CBP officials, claiming Border Patrol agents unconstitutionally detained people who looked like farmworkers, regardless of their actual immigration status or “individual circumstances,” over the span of a week, according to the report.

Detainees were allegedly taken by bus to the border, held without being able to communicate with family or legal representation, and forced to sign documents that stated they waived their right to see an immigration judge and voluntarily agreed to leave the U.S., the ACLU said.

Thurston wrote that the evidence showed Border Patrol agents “engaged in conduct that violated well-established constitutional rights,” The AP reported. The agency will be required to submit a report showing who is being held and who was arrested, along with the reasoning for both, every 60 days until the lawsuit is resolved.

CBP claimed Thurston did not have jurisdiction to make the ruling, but said it wouldn’t matter if she did because the agency had already issued new guidance and training to its agents, “detailing exactly when people may be stopped or arrested without warrants, and what rights detainees have after their arrest,” according to the report.