Judges Jacqueline Nguyen, Edward Chen, and Dolly Gee at their historic confirmation hearing in September 2009.

This is the second of a series of posts examining the interaction of the Asian Pacific American community and our court system.  You can make an immediate contribution to increasing diversity on the federal bench by calling members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and signing a letter [link to come] urging your Senators to confirm Professor Goodwin Liu, nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the Ninth Circuit. Professor Liu’s nomination will be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee this week.  Also, Judge Edward Chen, nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is awaiting a full Senate confirmation vote.  You can call members of the Senate and sign a letter urging the Senators to take positive action on his nomination as well.

State of Asian Pacific Americans in the Federal Judiciary

Over the next week we will be examining the history, challenges, achievements, and future of Asian Pacific Americans in our federal court system.  Why is this important?  For starters, it took almost 200 years before our country had its first Asian Pacific American federal judge.  During that time, our courts decided landmark cases that profoundly affected our community, often negatively.  The inclusion of the Asian Pacific American experience and perspective in our court system is vital to ensure that court decisions recognize the impact that such decisions have on our community.

 Over the past year, Asian Pacific Americans made great strides in our judiciary:

• Most recently, on April 23, 2010, Judge Denny Chin was confirmed 98-0 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Judge Chin is only the fifth Asian Pacific American to serve as a federal appellate court judge, and the first Asian Pacific American appellate court judge nominated and confirmed outside of the Ninth Circuit.
• Asian Pacific American women also made significant advances.  Florence Pan (first APA judge in the District of Columbia court system), Jacqueline Nguyen (first Vietnamese American Article III judge and first APA female Article III judge in California), and Dolly M. Gee (first Chinese American female Article III judge) were confirmed in 2009.  Article III judges have lifetime appointments.
• Thanks to the efforts of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Magistrate Judge Edward M. Chen (N.D. Cal.) and Judge Honorable Lucy H. Koh (Cal. Super. Ct., Santa Clara County) were nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California - a court that has never had an Asian Pacific American Article III judge.  Given that this court governs San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and other areas with very large Asian Pacific American populations, the lack of an Asian Pacific American Article III judge there is shocking.
• President Obama nominated U.C. Berkeley School of Law Associate Dean and Professor Goodwin Liu as his second Asian Pacific American federal appellate court nomination. There are currently zero Asian Pacific Americans among the 25 active federal appellate court judges in the Ninth Circuit – the appellate court that includes state such as Hawaii and California.  Since 1971, there has almost always been consistently one (and only one) Asian Pacific American on the Ninth Circuit.
• Last month, President Obama nominated the Honorable Leslie E. Kobayashi and Edmond E. Chang. If Judge Kobayashi is confirmed, this would be the first time in history that two Asian Pacific Americans served on the Hawaii federal district court at the same time – surprising given the demographics of that state.  Mr. Chang is the first-ever Asian Pacific American to be nominated to serve as an Article III judge in any of the federal courts covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which includes Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Despite our community’s recent achievements, Asian Pacific Americans are still significantly underrepresented on the judiciary. Judge Chin is the only Asian Pacific American serving among the approximately 175 active federal appellate court judges.  Overall, out of approximately 875 federal judgeships, there are only 10 Asian Pacific American judges – a little over 1% of the judiciary, even though Asian Pacific Americans make up about 5% of the population. 

Groups such as the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), its affiliates, and the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) are working to increase our representation in the courts by identifying and helping qualified Asian Pacific Americans get nominated and confirmed.  They have worked closely with the candidates themselves, the Administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and individual Senators at every step of the process.  More on their work can be found here.  You can also contribute by looking by watching for and responding to action alerts and press releases issued by NAPABA and AAJC. 

-          John C. Yang, NAPABA Judiciary Committee Co-Chair.