Amy Xu

Amy Xu is an associate at Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP.  She works on complex litigation and prelitigation matters in federal and state court. 

Prior to joining RBGG, Ms. Xu served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dale A. Drozd of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of California (2017-2019).  She was also an associate with an international law firm in Washington, D.C., where she represented clients in securities related enforcement actions and investigations.  Ms. Xu maintained an active pro bono practice, including arguing a case before the Baltimore Immigration Court that resulted in an order granting withholding of removal for a woman seeking safety from an abusive family member.

Ms. Xu received a J.D., cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis, where she participated in the school’s Civil Rights, Community Justice & Mediation clinic, interned at the Missouri State Public Defender, instructed an undergraduate course, and served as a Marshall-Brennan fellow.  She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a John B. Ervin scholar.

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

• U.S. WeChat Users Alliance v. Trump:  RBGG represented a non-profit organization and several individuals and businesses in the first successful challenge to President Trump’s Executive Order 13,943 (August 6, 2020) and its implementing regulations, which would have effectively banned the WeChat social media application and cut off at least 19 million daily users in the United States from their personal, professional, and religious communities.  RBGG (with co-counsel) filed the Complaint on August 21, 2020, just over two weeks after Executive Order 13,943 was issued, alleging that the intended ban unlawfully regulated constitutionally protected speech, expression, and association, and that such a ban would have particularly dire effects on millions of Chinese-speaking American users who depend on WeChat to communicate with their contacts both at home and in China.  One week later, RBGG filed a motion for preliminary injunction that served as a model for subsequent challenges to both the WeChat ban and a similar ban on the TikTok social media app.  The motion raised pathbreaking legal theories under the First Amendment and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), offered expert testimony that the WeChat ban would do little to advance the government’s asserted national security interests, and included extensive evidence of WeChat’s critical role in connecting Chinese-speaking communities at home and abroad.  On September 19, 2020—the day before the WeChat ban was scheduled to take effect and one day after the Secretary of Commerce publicly vowed to shut down WeChat in the United States—the court granted our motion on First Amendment grounds, thereby ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of WeChat in the United States.  See U.S. WeChat Users Alliance v. Trump, 488 F. Supp. 3d 912 (N.D. Cal. 2020).  RBGG then marshalled additional testimony from experts in cyber-security and internet communications technology to fight off the government’s multiple attempts to obtain an emergency stay of the preliminary injunction in both the district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  President Biden rescinded EO 13,943 shortly after taking office, putting an end to the Trump Administration’s attempt to shut down entirely a public forum used by millions of Americans.
• Stiner v. Brookdale Senior Living, Inc.: RBGG and co-counsel filed a federal class action lawsuit in July 2017 accusing Brookdale Senior Living, the largest provider of assisted living for senior citizens and persons with disabilities in the U.S., of financial abuse and widespread violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.  More than 5,000 residents live in Brookdale’s 89 California assisted living facilities.  On January 25, 2019 the district court denied Brookdale’s motion to dismiss, finding the ADA applies to assisted living facilities.  Stiner et al., v. Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. et al.,  354 F.Supp.3d 1046  (N.D. Cal. Jan. 25, 2019).  On March 30, 2023, the Court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification.  In the Order, the Court reaffirmed its prior judgment that the ADA applies to Brookdale’s assisted living facilities, and certified a class of residents who use wheelchairs and scooters under the theory that Brookdale’s Fleet Safety Policy violates Title III of the ADA by requiring residents to transfer out of their scooters or power wheelchairs in order to ride on Brookdale’s vans or buses, denying them an equal access to Brookdale’s transportation services because of their disabilities.  On October 13, 2023, the Plaintiffs filed a Fourth Amended Complaint.  The trial in the case will begin on September 9, 2024 in federal district court in Oakland, California, and is expected to last several weeks.
• Prison Legal News v. Ryan, 39 F.4th 1121 (9th Cir. 2022):  RBGG, as lead counsel for publisher Prison Legal News (PLN), secured a partial affirmance of a district court order finding the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) violated PLN’s First Amendment rights by censoring its eponymous news publication Prison Legal News.  The Ninth Circuit held that ADC’s policy banning sexually suggestive materials was unconstitutional both on its face and as applied to Prison Legal News, and awarded PLN over $200,000 in fees.  RBGG also won a ruling from the district court on summary judgment that ADC violated PLN’s Fourteenth Amendment due process rights, entitling PLN to damages, which ADC did not appeal.