Judge Arun Subramanian Presiding Over Diddy Trial
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 13 May, 2025

Asian American judges have recently been at the center of this country’s most pressing legal battles:

Judge Edward Chen ruled against President Trump’s attempt to end deportation protections for Venezuelan immigrants,

Judge Theodore Huang reversed DOGE’s shutdown of USAID.

Judge Dale Ho presided over the corruption trial of New York Mayor Eric Adams.

And now South Asian Judge Arun Subramanian is presiding over what is being deemed the trial of the year: The United States v. Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The trial of the rapper formerly known as Puff Daddy (later P. Diddy and then simply Diddy) began on Monday. Diddy shocked the world when numerous sexual assault allegations against him came to light in 2023. He is accused of misconduct against men, women and minors which has allegedly occurred over the past few decades. The official charges against him include running a massive sex trafficking operation.

Last October Judge Subramanian, the son of immigrants from the state of Tamil Nadu in South India, was designated to oversee the trial. He was nominated by President Biden in 2022 to serve in the Southern District of New York, which made him the first South Asian to sit on that bench. During his hearing in 2023 Senate Majority Leader called him the “epitome of the American Dream and a history maker.” The district he serves in has one of the largest populations of South Asians in the country. 

On just its second day, the trial is a top focus of the music, entertainment, and comedy world. Even pop culture news site TMZ has been doing its research on Subramanian, noting, “He loves karaoke, buys his own robes online — and is well-respected by his colleagues, and, “He's shown an easy temperament and joking nature in the courtroom which calmed potential jurors all last week.”

We might be inclined to think of judges as stodgy old white men, which could have been an odd fit for a trial about a hip hop legend. While TMZ didn’t specify what music was pumping through the Judge’s headphones, at age 45, ten years Diddy’s junior, it’s fair to assume that he has some level of familiarity with the defendant’s music.

But don’t let his youth fool you. Judge Subramanian already appears to be handling this case with the utmost seriousness. He has refused to let Diddy walk out of jail on bond and denied Diddy’s request to push the trial back two months. 

This trial is easily the biggest of Judge Subramanian’s relatively short career. While Judges Chen, Huang, and Ho are likely known only to the closest political and legal observers, Judge Subramanian has the potential to become a familiar name. One can only imagine how many documentaries about the trial are already in the works.