The Biden-Harris administration announced a slate of federal judicial nominees Friday, a White House press release reports. The list includes one nominee who could become the first Chinese American woman to serve in California’s Northern District for the U.S. District Court.
Judge Rita F. Lin would also be the second Asian American woman to be a judge for the district, San Francisco Chronicle reports. The district includes the cities of San Francisco and San Jose, as well as other western California counties.
Lin was nominated alongside Justice Myong J. Joun, who is nominated to serve for the U.S. District Court’s District of Massachusetts, according to the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) via Twitter.
“These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” the Biden-Harris administration said via press release.
Lin currently works as a San Francisco Superior Court judge, the Chronicle reports. Prior to her current seat, Lin studied at Harvard Law School and worked as a federal prosecutor and corporate lawyer.
In a previous court case last year, Lin pointed out the necessity of Asian American participation in legal processes, another San Francisco Chronicle piece reports. Lin ruled that a case involving attempted murder wrongfully excused several possible jurors based on their Asian identity.
“In the jury process, Asian American citizens in our community have a right to participate in this process and to sit as jurors and sit in judgment as anyone else does,” Lin said, according to the Chronicle.
According to the Los Angeles Times, if confirmed by the Senate, Lin joins Judge Daniel Calabretta and attorney Araceli Martinez-Olguin, who would become the first openly gay judge and second Latina to serve on their respective districts for the U.S. District Court.
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