Donetta Ambrose

Donetta W. Ambrose
Senior Judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
Incumbent
Assumed office November 5, 2010
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
In office 2002–2009
Preceded by	D. Brooks Smith
Succeeded by	Gary L. Lancaster
Judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
In office November 24, 1993 – November 5, 2010
Nominated by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Gerald Joseph Weber
Succeeded by	Mark R. Hornak
Personal details
Born	1945 (age 78–79) New Kensington, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	Duquesne University Duquesne University School of Law

Donetta W. Ambrose (born 1945) is a United States federal judge. She is currently serving on senior status.

Born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Ambrose received a B.A. from Duquesne University in 1967 and a J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law in 1970. She was a law clerk to Louis Manderino of Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania from 1970 to 1971. She was an assistant attorney general of Pennsylvania Department of Justice from 1972 to 1974, thereafter entering private practice in New Kensington until 1981. She was an assistant district attorney in the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office from 1977 to 1981. She was a judge of the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas from 1982 to 1993.

On October 25, 1993, Ambrose was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. vacated by Gerald Joseph Weber. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 20, 1993, and received her commission on November 24, 1993. Upon the elevation of D. Brooks Smith to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Judge Ambrose became Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and served in that capacity until 2009. She assumed senior status on November 5, 2010.

Sources

• Donetta Ambrose at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.