Julia Spiegel

On February 3, 2017, the County of Santa Clara sued President Donald J. Trump and other federal officers in the Northern District of California, No. 3:17-cv-00574, challenging Executive Order 13768 (January 25, 2017) on so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. The CourtListener docket records, on February 17, 2017: “NOTICE of Appearance by Julia Blau Spiegel (Spiegel, Julia) (Filed on 2/17/2017).” Judge William H. Orrick issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against a broad reading of Section 9(a) of the order on April 25, 2017, reported at 250 F. Supp. 3d 497. Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse and Stanford Lawyer identify Spiegel among Santa Clara deputy county counsels on the team (including outside counsel). A docket appearance is not solo authorship of the injunction and not a crime. Later bios (Haas, GovAct, CA9) claim awards for “securing a nationwide injunction” — those are her shops’ characterizations of the same case.

Counsel appearance on a county suit against a Trump executive order. Team case. Not upgraded to “she alone enjoined the President.”

Preliminary injunction April 25, 2017 (Orrick). Later summary judgment / permanent injunction path; Ninth Circuit affirmed judgment and remanded nationwide scope (2018). Appearance ≠ personal criminal judgment.

On August 19, 2019, Julia Blau Spiegel entered an appearance as counsel for the County of Santa Clara in City and County of San Francisco v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, N.D. Cal. No. 4:19-cv-04717 — one of the suits challenging DHS’s August 2019 public-charge rule. The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse records the notice of appearance. The Ninth Circuit’s December 2, 2020 opinion PDF in related appeals (Nos. 19-17213 et al.) lists “Julia B. Spiegel” among deputy county counsels for Santa Clara. Stanford’s instructor biography later says she “filed the nation’s first lawsuit successfully blocking” a public-benefits punishment rule — that is her bio’s characterization. The docket fact is narrower: she appeared for the county against the Trump-era rule. A counsel listing is not a statute and not a crime.

Counsel listing locked by Clearinghouse appearance line + Ninth Circuit PDF. Bio “first lawsuit” language is not upgraded beyond the docket.

Ninth Circuit public-charge appellate opinions list her among Santa Clara counsel. Later federal policy change under Biden is separate from her appearance fact.

On November 22, 2021, the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation announced its Distinguished Fellow Award for Julia Spiegel. The firm’s release is the date lock for the Newsom title: “Ms. Spiegel serves as a Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary to California Governor Gavin Newsom. Her portfolio includes consumer protection, privacy, election integrity, and immigration. She is in-house counsel to the Governor and his team, overseeing various state agencies and departments and directing litigation.” It adds: “From 2017 until her recent appointment, Ms. Spiegel was a Deputy County Counsel for Santa Clara County.” The Ninth Circuit ALR biography later calls her “deputy legal affairs secretary and senior advisor on reproductive rights.” GovAct’s founder page says she was legal counsel to Newsom when the Supreme Court overturned Roe and that she “left government service in 2024.” A California Lawyers Association privacy program listed her as Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary on April 6, 2022. This site does not invent an exact first-day-in-office. Title is not a crime.

GovAct’s founder page says Julia Spiegel “left government service in 2024 to launch GovAct — creating a central platform for cross-state coordination.” The Ninth Circuit ALR biography calls her founder and CEO of GovAct, “a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that supports governors in championing fundamental freedoms.” CalBar lists the employer as GovAct. The New York Times, November 13, 2024 — “Democratic Governors Form a Group to Oppose the Trump Administration” — identified her as “a former top legal adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California who will serve as the group’s top staff member,” and wrote that the group was modeled on the Reproductive Freedom Alliance. GovAct calls itself nonpartisan; the Times headline said Democratic governors. Both are in the record. A newspaper interview is not a crime.

On October 15, 2025, Governors Action Alliance posted a press release: fifteen governors launched the Governors Public Health Alliance. The named governors include Ferguson, Green, Healey, Hochul, Kotek, Lamont, Leon Guerrero, McKee, Meyer, Moore, Murphy, Newsom, Polis, Pritzker, and Stein. The release states the “Nonpartisan initiative will be supported by GovAct” and later: “As an initiative of GovAct, the Alliance is also guided by GovAct’s Bipartisan Advisory Board….” Julia Spiegel is quoted as “founder and CEO of the Governors Action Alliance (GovAct).” Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, on that release: “While Donald Trump and RFK Jr. turn their backs on public health, Governors are stepping up….” Those are their sentences on a primary press release. This site does not write that Spiegel “wants to destroy America” or that the governors are “Omidyar’s hirelings” — those lines are labeled commentary elsewhere (see Claims). The Democracy Fund dollar figure is the Money packet.

On September 9, 2026, “Bipartisan Former Governors” filed an amicus brief in support of Respondents in Supreme Court application No. 26A305 (United States Postal Service et al. v. State of California et al. / related Trump et al. v. League of Women Voters of Massachusetts et al.). The brief opposes Applicants’ request to stay Judge Indira Talwani’s September 4, 2026 preliminary injunction (D. Mass. ECF 285) of mandatory sections of the USPS Ballot Mail Final Rule. Counsel list on the primary PDF includes Julia Spiegel, Emily Kirby, Charanya Krishnaswami, and Megan Flynn under Governors Action Alliance (GovAct), with Carey R. Dunne as counsel of record (Free and Fair Litigation Group, Inc.). Spiegel is amicus counsel, not a party and not the district judge. Justice Jackson ordered any response to the application by 4 p.m. (EDT) on September 9, 2026. On September 14, 2026, the Court denied the stay application; Talwani’s Sep 4 PI remains in force (primary write-up: indiratalwani.com). An amicus brief is a filing by non-parties. It is not a Supreme Court ruling and not a finding that Spiegel authored Talwani’s PI. Stay denial ≠ merits affirmance.

On May 16, 2023, Julia Spiegel published “Advancing Global Human Rights Locally” in Just Security. She wrote: “International human rights are often viewed as the prerogative of the federal government. But that’s not the law, nor the reality.” She wrote that states and localities “can complement or fill a void in federal action in important ways,” and: “The new wave of human rights is local.” Under networks she named the “newly formed Reproductive Freedom Alliance.” The byline is personal capacity. Those sentences are hers — not a court finding.

GovAct’s founder page states that as Newsom counsel she “launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance (RFA), bringing 23 governors together,” and that her “innovative strategy to stockpile medication abortion drugs” was featured in a New York Times profile. Contemporaneous reporting (CalMatters, April 14, 2023; Axios, April 17, 2023) identified her as deputy legal affairs secretary and quoted her on choosing misoprostol because “its legality is not in question” and on sending a message that medication abortion remains legal in California. Those outlet quotations are attributed reporting; this pass did not lock a CalMatters HTML archive (host 403). The GovAct bio claim is her shop’s words. No federal crime is invented from a stockpile.

Yale Law School’s 2014–15 fellowship biographies: “Julia Spiegel ’13 will serve as a policy advisor in the Executive Office of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power.” The same PDF says she currently serves as a law clerk to Hon. M. Margaret McKeown. Later official biographies (CA9 ALR, GovAct, Haas) upgrade the title to “senior advisor.” This site records both. Power was President Obama’s UN ambassador. Not a Trump-era UN post. Not a judgeship.

The Washington Examiner reported that in September, Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund “routed $500,000 to the Governors Action Alliance to support ‘coordinating and strengthening the work of governors to address specific threats to American democracy,’ Democracy Fund’s grants database shows,” with disbursement “until August 2025 for ‘state and local accountability.’” The same piece says Governors Action Alliance “counts its founder and CEO as Julia Spiegel, a former senior legal adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA).” A GSD spokesperson told the Examiner the group does not comment on individual donors. Influence Watch cites the Democracy Fund grants-database search for GovAct. This site treats the dollar figure as what those outlets report from the foundation database. It does not invent a Spiegel personal donation. No FEC item matching Julia Blau Spiegel was located this pass.