The Honorable Cynthia A. Bashant

The Hon. Cynthia A. Bashant is a District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. She was nominated by President Barack Obama in January 2014 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2014. She filled the seat vacated by the Hon. Irma Elsa Gonzalez.

Judge Bashant received her A.B. from Smith College in 1982. She went on to earn her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1986.

Bashant began her legal career in 1986 as an associate at MacDonald, Halsted, and Laybourne, which later merged with Baker and McKenzie.

After three years with the firm, Bashant left private practice to join the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California. During her tenure there, she rose through the ranks, serving as deputy chief of the Narcotics Unit in 1995 and then chief of the Border Crimes Unit in 1997. She remained with the U.S. Attorney's Office until receiving a call to the state bench in 2000.

It was at that time that Bashant was appointed by former Governor Gray Davis to serve as a judge for the San Diego County Superior Court. During her tenure on the Superior Court, Judge Bashant served as the Presiding Judge of Juvenile Court.

Some of her memberships have included the San Diego County Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Council and the United Way Child Abuse Network Vision Council. Judge Bashant has also served on the board of directors for the Children's Initiative of San Diego and the San Diego County Judges' Association as well as the advisory board of the San Pasqual Academy and the June Burnett Institute. She was also the past-president of the Lawyers Club of San Diego.

She was named the Judge of the Year by the San Diego Juvenile Justice Commission in 2012.

Judge Bashant was born in San Francisco, California.