The sentencing judge of Sean “Diddy” Combs to a little more than four years in federal prison on two charges of prostitution-related offenses is United States District Judge Arun Srinivas Subramanian. He is an eminent Indian-American judge on the federal bench for the Southern District of New York.
Who is Judge Arun Subramanian?
Arun Subramanian is a United States District Judge who became famous for his measured, deliberate style and for being the first South Asian judge to preside on the powerful Southern District of New York (SDNY) federal court. He was born in 1979 to an Indian-immigrant Tamil family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Arun Subramanian: Early Life and Education
Judge Subramanian’s background is usually touted as the quintessential American immigrant success story with deep roots in education and public service. His father was a control systems engineer, and his mother was a bookkeeper. He studied at Case Western Reserve University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree. He studied further at Columbia Law School in New York and graduated in 2004.
Arun Subramanian’s Legal Career and Judicial Journey
Subramanian’s early career as a lawyer followed an extremely selective route, with a number of distinguished clerkships: he was a clerk for Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was also a law clerk for Judge Gerard E. Lynch of the Southern District of New York. Most notably, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an experience that profoundly influenced his judicial philosophy.
Following his clerkships, Subramanian came aboard at the leading litigation law firm Susman Godfrey LLP in New York City in 2007 and remained there until appointed to the bench, later becoming a partner. Throughout his time at the firm, he developed a diverse caseload of significant cases from antitrust and commercial law to pro bono civil rights cases. His tenure at the firm allegedly recovered more than a billion dollars’ worth of cases involving fraud and exploitation.
Arun Subramanian: A Federal Judicial Service
In 2022, Arun Subramanian was appointed by President Joe Biden to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and confirmed by the Senate in 2023. His appointment was historical in nature, as he became the first South Asian American judge on the SDNY bench.
Arun Subramanian: Judicial Temperament and Notable Case
As a judge, Subramanian has become known in short order as a disciplinarian and a modernizer. Attorneys characterize him as “adaptable yet firm,” demanding decorum but often employing a measured, composed demeanor to make others feel more comfortable. He is not one for theatrics, having allegedly said, “This courtroom is about law, not theatrics.”
He sat on the high-profile criminal trial of music industry mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. Following a trial in which Combs was convicted on two charges of “transportation to participate in prostitution,” the 50-month jail sentence was handed down by Judge Subramanian in October 2025. During sentencing remarks, the judge stressed that accountability had to be enforced and the message sent out to survivors of domestic violence, dismissing the defense’s efforts to portray the offenses as “simple consensual experiences.” The judge also recognized the courage of the victims who testified.
