# Leonie Brinkema **Leonie M. Brinkema** (b. June 26, 1944, Teaneck, N.J.) is a U.S. District Judge for the **Eastern District of Virginia**, sitting in Alexandria. [[Bill Clinton]] nominated her in August 1993, and the Senate confirmed her that October. In 2025–26 she held two of the largest pending checks on concentrated power in the vault's scope: - the Google **ad-tech** monopoly case - the challenge to the **$1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund"** created by Trump's settlement with his own IRS ## Background Brinkema trained as a librarian before she became a lawyer. She earned a Rutgers B.A. and a master's in library science, then a Cornell J.D. in 1976. She spent a year in DOJ's Public Integrity Section, worked as a federal prosecutor in the district she now sits in (1977–83), and served as a magistrate judge there from 1985 until her appointment. Her docket is national-security heavy because Alexandria sits next to the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies. Two earlier cases stand out: - **RTC v. Lerma (1995):** the Church of Scientology's copyright suit against a critic. - **United States v. Moussaoui:** she presided over the only U.S. criminal trial arising from 9/11. In 2006 she imposed the life sentence the jury chose over death. ## Google ad tech - **Liability (Apr 17, 2025).** She found that Google unlawfully monopolized publisher ad servers and ad exchanges and illegally tied them together. She rejected the advertiser ad-network claim. - **Remedy (Sept 2, 2026).** After a remedies trial and closing arguments on Nov 21, 2025, she **denied the divestiture of AdX** that DOJ sought. She ordered a set of behavioral remedies instead, which the vault's [[United States v. Google]] page details. As of late September 2026 the final judgment was still pending. Together with Judge Mehta's search remedy, this means neither Google monopoly case has produced a breakup. ## The Anti-Weaponization Fund The fund came out of the May 18, 2026 settlement of Trump's suit against the IRS (see [[Trump IRS Lawsuit Settlement]]). The plaintiffs in *Floyd v. DOJ* include: - [[Andrew Floyd]], a former prosecutor fired over his January 6 work - [[Jonathan Caravello]], a professor who was acquitted - the City of New Haven - [[Common Cause]] The case so far: - **May 29, 2026.** Brinkema froze the fund. Her reasoning was that money paid out cannot be clawed back. DOJ agreed to comply. - **June 12.** She ruled the case was not moot and kept the block in place. Reports differ on whether that order was a formal preliminary injunction. She also demanded sworn declarations from [[Todd Blanche]] and [[Scott Bessent]]. - **Aug 3.** Blanche formally rescinded the order creating the fund, ahead of his own nomination hearing. - **Sept 18.** At a hearing, she questioned whether the fund was really "dead." She floated appointing an independent monitor over Judgment Fund payouts and did not rule on dismissal. No Fourth Circuit appeal has been found. The case shows a pattern the vault tracks: when the executive cannot win a fight in court, it withdraws the policy to moot the case, and the judge tests whether the withdrawal is real. ## See also - [[Trump IRS Lawsuit Settlement]] · [[Kathleen Williams]] · [[Todd Blanche]] · [[Andrew Floyd]] · [[Jonathan Caravello]] - [[United States v. Google]] · [[Antitrust Division]] · [[US Antitrust and Monopoly Timeline]]