Ellen Gracie Northfleet

Ellen Gracie Northfleet, born 16 February 1948 in Rio de Janeiro, is a Brazilian jurist who in 2000 became the first woman appointed to Brazil Supreme Federal Court and served as its first female President from 2006 to 2008. She earned her law degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in 1970, worked as a federal prosecutor from 1973 to 1989, and then served as a judge of the Regional Federal Court of the 4th Region before her elevation to the Supreme Federal Court. She also served on Brazil Superior Electoral Court and chaired the National Justice Council from 2006 to 2008, retiring from the Supreme Federal Court in August 2011, seven years before the mandatory retirement age of seventy.