After several weeks of rumors, President Obama officially nominated federal district Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. If confirmed, Judge Chin will be the ONLY federal appellate judge of APA descent; Judge Wallace Tashima of the Ninth Circuit has taken senior status and is thus no longer considered an active judge. Judge Chin was also the first APA federal district judge appointed outside of the Ninth Circuit area (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington), and one of only three east of the Mississippi (the others are Judge Amul Thapar of the Eastern District of Kentucky and Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto of the Eastern District of New York). Judge Judge Chin will fill the vacancy created by Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the Supreme Court, creating an interesting confluence of historic firsts.

In announcing the Chin's appointment along with that of Rogeriee Thompson for the First Circuit, President Obama said, “Judges Chin and Thompson have displayed exceptional dedication to public service throughout their careers. They have served on the bench with distinction in New York and Rhode Island, and I am honored to nominate them today to serve the American people on the United States Court of Appeals. I am confident that they will be judicious and esteemed additions to the First and Second Circuits.”

So why is it so important that APAs are represented on the federal bench?  Well, federal courts can have considerable power, and federal judges serve for life.  The appellate courts, of which the Second Circuit is one, are incredibly important because they have the last word on over 99% of the cases in federal court.  The US Supreme Court selects only a tiny fraction of all the cases in the country to hear, so the appellate courts issue the opinions that determine federal law for the vast majority of cases.  Given the tremendous impact that federal judges can have on our lives, it's problematic when the perspectives of our community are absent.  Though APAs comprise 4.5% of the US population, far less than 1% of federal judges are APAs.  (NAPABA has a list of all the APA federal judges as of January 2009 here.  Note that magistrate judges are not true Article III judges, but specially created and appointed by other judges.  Obama has since nominated several additional APAs to the federal bench.)  And as previously discussed, none of those APAs on the federal bench are currently active appellate judges.  Appeals courts resolve questions of law, such as how to interpret or apply a vague, ambiguous, or controversial statute, so their decisions have lasting impact as precedent in ways that federal district courts, as trial courts, do not.

Increasing the representation of APAs on the federal bench not only helps ensure that APAs feel they have a meaningful role in our system of justice, but broadens and enriches the dialogue between judges deciding on difficult cases.

More information about Judge Chin from the White House's Press Release is available below.

Denny Chin: Nominee for United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge

Denny Chin was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong. His family moved to the United States when he was 2 years old. Judge Chin was raised in New York City, attending Stuyvesant High School, a New York public school specializing in math and science, before attending Princeton University. He graduated from Princeton magna cum laude in 1975 and from Fordham Law School in 1978 where he was the managing editor of the Fordham Law Review.

After graduation, Judge Chin clerked on the Southern District of New York for Judge Henry F. Werker. He then spent two years at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell before becoming an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1982. When he left the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1986, Judge Chin started a law firm with two colleagues: Campbell, Patrick & Chin. Four years later, he joined the law firm of Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., where he specialized in labor and employment law.

In 1994, Judge Chin was nominated and confirmed to the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he currently serves. He was the first Asian-American appointed as a U.S. District Court Judge outside of the Ninth Circuit. Judge Chin has served as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law teaching legal research and writing since 1986. He is currently the Treasurer for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Judicial Council, and he has served as the President of the Federal Bar Council Inn of Court and the President of the Asian American Bar Association of New York. He also currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Fordham Law School Alumni Association and the Fordham Law School Law Review Association and as the Co-Chair for the Fordham Law School Minority Mentorship Program.

Judge Chin is a member of the Federal Bar Council Public Service Committee, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.