Cecilia María Altonaga (born December 26, 1962) is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She is the first Cuban-American woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the United States. Biography Altonaga was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to parents who escaped from the communist regime in Cuba. She attended Notre Dame Academy in Miami, graduating in 1980, and then received a B.A. from Florida International University in 1983, and a J.D. from the Yale Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1986. She worked as an attorney in the Miami Dade County Attorney's Office from 1986 to 1987, and then served as a law clerk to Edward B. Davis of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida from 1987 to 1988 before returning to the County Attorney's Office as an assistant County Attorney until 1996. In 1996, Governor Lawton Chiles appointed her as a County Court Judge on Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court. In 1999, she was elevated to circuit court judge in that district by Governor Jeb Bush. Federal judicial service On January 15, 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Altonaga to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was nominated to the seat vacated by Shelby Highsmith who assumed senior status on March 15, 2002. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 6, 2003, and received her commission the following day. During her time on the federal bench, Altonaga has been noted for her strong support of the recently created Florida International University College of Law, having served as the keynote speaker in the 2004 Convocation, judged several moot court competitions, and employed FIU law students as summer interns. She became Chief Judge on July 1, 2021. Notable cases and rulings On June 14, 2007, Altonaga ruled that US Sugar Corporation's practice of pumping untreated wastewater into Lake Okeechobee was in violation of the Clean Water Act. Largely as a result of this decision, on June 25, 2008 the state of Florida announced plans to purchase of land controlled by US Sugar, which will be used to restore vital water flow between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades National Park, helping to ensure its survival in the face of competition for water from surrounding development. She also