United States District Judge Patti B. Saris is a former chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and former chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. She is a graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School.

After graduating, she clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. When Senator Edward M. Kennedy became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sarris moved to Washington, DC, and worked as staff counsel. She later became an assistant United States attorney and eventually chief of the Civil Division. Saris later became a United States magistrate judge, became an associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, and was appointed to the United States District Court.

Saris was on the Harvard Board of Overseers from 2000 to 2006 and became president in the last year. She has served on various Harvard University visiting committees and is a lecturer at Harvard Law School.

Saris has been active on various judicial committees, including the Budget Committee and the Defender Services Committee, which she chaired in 2005. She has also served on the board of the Federal Judges Association and is cochair of the Judicial Independence and Integrity Committee.

Saris served on various philanthropic boards, including the national board of the nonprofit Bottom Line and the charter school Codman Academy.

She has received awards for judicial excellence from the Boston Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Patent Bar Association and is a recipient of the Harvard Medal. She has also received an award for her work in reducing federal sentences for drug offenders.

She was elected to the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves on boards in both organizations.