Judge Sallie Kim: DeVos Contempt, Vandenberg Drone Case, and Career

Judge Sallie Kim is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California, sitting in San Francisco since July 2015. She is best known outside the courthouse for two rulings: a 2019 civil contempt order against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over the collection of federal loans owed by former Corinthian Colleges students, and a 2024 decision releasing a Chinese national on personal recognizance after he was charged with flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base.¹²

Kim was selected by the sitting judges of the Northern District of California for a newly created magistrate judgeship and took the bench on July 30, 2015, for an eight-year term. Magistrate judges, unlike district judges, are chosen by the district court itself through a merit-selection process and serve renewable terms rather than for life.³ She remains active, with a calendar extending into 2027.⁴

The DeVos Contempt Ruling

The case that drew Kim her broadest attention grew out of the 2014 collapse of Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit chain. In a class action brought by the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard Law School and Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, a preliminary injunction ordered the Department of Education to stop collecting federal student loans from former Corinthian students.⁵

The department did not comply. Court findings showed that roughly 16,000 borrowers were incorrectly told they still owed payments after the injunction took effect, about 1,800 had their wages garnished, and more than 800 were subjected to adverse credit reporting. The department’s chief operating officer for Federal Student Aid told the court that loan servicers had “mistakenly” billed the students.⁶⁵

On October 24, 2019, Kim held Secretary DeVos in civil contempt and ordered the department to pay a $100,000 fine, designated to fund debt relief for the affected borrowers.⁷ Kim said she was “astounded” by the violations and found that officials had demonstrated “only minimal efforts to comply” with her earlier order.⁶ Congressional Democrats cited the ruling in calling for DeVos to testify about the department’s student loan practices.

The Vandenberg Drone Case

In late 2024, Kim drew a second wave of attention in United States v. Yinpiao Zhou. Zhou, a 39-year-old Chinese national and lawful permanent resident living in Brentwood, California, was arrested on December 9, 2024, at the San Francisco airport while trying to board a flight to China. Federal agents alleged that on November 30, 2024, he had flown a modified DJI drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base for nearly an hour at an altitude approaching one mile. A search of his phone reportedly turned up a query for “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and messages about hacking the drone to exceed its altitude ceiling.⁸

Zhou was charged with violating national defense airspace and failing to register an aircraft. Kim ordered him released on personal recognizance, requiring only that he attend future hearings.⁹ The Department of Justice appealed, and Zhou remained in custody while the appeal was pending.⁸ Conservative commentators criticized the release decision, some pointing back to the DeVos ruling.

The case resolved without a trial. Zhou initially pleaded not guilty in January 2025, then on March 10, 2025, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of violating national defense airspace; the failure-to-register charge was dismissed under the plea agreement. On March 31, 2025, he was sentenced to four months in federal custody (time served), one year of supervised release, a $200 fine, and a $25 special assessment. Under the plea terms, the conviction could serve as grounds for deportation, permanent inadmissibility, and denial of naturalization.¹⁰¹¹

Background Before the Bench

Kim earned a bachelor’s degree cum laude from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1986 and graduated from Stanford Law School in 1989.¹² She clerked for U.S. District Judge Spencer Williams in the Northern District of California, and later said the clerkship convinced her she would enjoy being a judge.¹³

She returned to Stanford Law School in administrative roles, serving as Assistant Dean and then Associate Dean for Student Affairs while teaching a Trial Advocacy Workshop as a Lecturer in Law.¹² In 2002 she joined GCA Law Partners in Mountain View as a litigation partner, handling complex commercial, employment, intellectual property, securities, and real estate disputes in state and federal court.¹⁴ She stayed at GCA until her appointment in 2015, and during that span she also spent 14 weeks as a full-time Volunteer Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County and co-directed Stanford’s trial advocacy program.¹ She is a lifetime member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley.

How She Runs Her Courtroom

Kim’s standing order, most recently updated in October 2025, requires lead trial counsel to meet and confer in person before filing any discovery dispute. If they cannot resolve the issue, they must file a joint letter brief capped at eight double-spaced pages with no footnotes. She limits each side to one summary judgment motion absent good cause and requires narrowly tailored sealing requests.¹⁵

One provision stands out. Lawyers with fewer than five years of practice are welcomed at hearings and trials, and Kim grants them extended time limits at argument.¹⁵ She maintains a separate patent standing order, reflecting the intellectual property docket common in the Northern District of California, and hears civil law and motion matters and case management conferences on Mondays, with criminal law and motion sessions at midday.¹⁶

1
Mercury News. Silicon Valley Lawyer Joins Bay Area Federal Bench
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Ninth Circuit Annual Report. Annual Report 2015
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U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Magistrate Judge Consent Brochure
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U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Judge Kim Court Calendar
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The New York Times. Education Dept. Loan Repayments Corinthian
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WRAL. Democrats Call on Betsy DeVos to Testify on Student Loan Forgiveness After Contempt Ruling
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The Washington Post. Federal Judge Holds DeVos in Contempt in Loan Case, Slaps Education Dept. With Fine
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Newsweek. China News: Suspect Arrested for Drone Over U.S. Military Base
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Free Beacon. Meet the Judge Who Ordered the Release of a Chinese National Arrested for Taking Drone Shots of a Military Base
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U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Chinese National Sentenced Following Drone Flight During Restricted Launch
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San Luis Obispo Tribune. Chinese Citizen Sentenced for Drone Over Vandenberg
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Stanford Law School. Sallie Kim
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Law.com. Sallie Kim Profile
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APABA Silicon Valley. Hon. Sallie Kim
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U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Judge Sallie Kim Standing Order
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U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Judge Sallie Kim