President Bush will be nominating a Supreme Court Justice (SCJ) soon. 80-20 is campaigning for nomination of an Asian American to the high court for Asian American to win equal justice. A Coalition of "80-20, AAV, Committe of 100, National Federation of Indian Americams is being built" says S. B. Woo, President of 80-20.
80-20 gives a listing of Asian American jurists as qualified for the Supreme Court justice:
Denny Chin, District Court Judge since1994The bios of the candidates are:
Judge Denny Chin was born in 1954 in Kowloon, Hong Kong. After completing Fordham Law School in 1978, he clerked for Judge Henry Werker of the SDNY. Afterwards, Judge Chin was in private practice, then Assistant US Attorney. He was appointed to the federal judiciary in 1994, the first Asian American east of the Mississippi to be appointed to the Federal bench. In 1991, Judge Chin sanctioned a lawyer who made racist insinuations against Judge Chin's character. In 1998, an appeals court affirmed Judge Chin's decision.
Anthony B. Ching, former Solicitor General of Arizona, is the first ever Solicitor General of Arizona for 12 years. In Arizona, a Solicitor General is in charge of all civil cases in which the State is a party, while the Attorney General is in charge of the criminal cases. Anthony argued two cases in the US Supreme Court in Graham vs. Richardson and Perez vs. Campbell (both in 1971).
Judge Anthony W. Ishiii was born in 1946 in Santa Anna, Californkia. He graduated from UC Berkeley Law School in 1973. He worked as a deputy city attorney, Deputy public defender, and state and municipal judge. He was also in private practice. In 1997, he was nominated by Bill Clinton to the federal bench.
Judge George H. King was born in 1951 in Shanghai. After graduating from USC Law School in 1974, he was briefly in private practice before becoming Assistant US Attorney, CDCA, from 1975-79. He was also a Hearing examiner for the LA Police Commission, and a US Magistrate for CDCA from1987-1995. He was appointed by President Clinton in 1995 to the federal bench. Judge King is former president (1984-85) of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association.
Dean Harold Hongju Koh clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry A Blackmum. Then he went into private practice briefly. From, '83 to '85 he worked For Reagan Administration's Dept. of Justice as Attorney-Adviser. In '83 he also joined the Yale faculty. From '98 to '01 he worked for Clinton Administration's State Dept. as the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. He is now the Dean of Yale Law School. He was mentioned by the NY Times as a possible candidate for the Supreme Court.
Judge Ronald S. W. Lew was born in the back room of his father's laundry in LA. After attending Loyala University, Lew enrolled in Southwestern Law School. Lew served in the U.S. Army from 1967-69. He then served as a City Attorney, then a Judge on the Municipal Court. Although Lew is Republican, he was appointed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in 1982 to the Municipal Court. In 1984, he was appointed to the Superior Court. He also served two assignments on the Second District Court of Appeal. In 1987, Judge Lew became the first Chinese American outside of Hawaii to be appointed to the Federal bench. Besides his legal career, Judge Lew helped organize the Chinatown Service Center and helped found the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association, which lobbied for early Asian American judicial appointments and encouraged young Asian Americans to go into law.
Judge Robert A. Takasugi was born in 1930. He received receive degrees from UCLA and USC Law School. Thereafter, his commitment to equal justice took him to the streets of East Los Angeles, where he represented civil rights protestors in the sixties'. After serving on the Los Angeles Municipal and Superior Court benches, Judge Takasugi became the first Japanese American appointed to the federal bench in 1976. Judge Takasugi's work has consistently been marked by a high degree of integrity and a commitment to equal access to justice. Through his service on the Judicial Affirmative Action and Indigent Panel Committees, Judge Takasugi has always strived to expand the participation in law of women and people of color. He was the first judge in the Central District of California to hire a female law clerk. Judge Takasugi also mentored the founders of the Asian Law Caucus who battled for the vindication of all Japanese Americans in Korematsu vs. US (reversing the conviction of a Japanese American refusing to be interned and finding that the internment had been based on misleading information about Japanese Americans). In 1999, a Public Interest Fellowship was established in his name.
Judge A Wallace Tashima is a Senior Judge, 9th Circuit Court which covers CA, AZ, AK, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. He was first appointed by Carter to a District court,1980; Clinton nominated him to the Court of Appeals in 1995 Judge Tashima was born in 1934 in Santa Maria, California. He was a marine Corps Sergent, 1953-56 before getting his BA from UCLA and then a LL. B. from Harvard Law School, in 1961. After that, he was Deputy Secretary of State in CA, and in private practice, until he was appointed a District judge. Judge Tashima spent several years of his childhood in the Poston Relocation Center and has written and spoken about the Japanese American internment experience. He has recently expressed concerns about whether the war on terrorism will not infringe on civil rights. He was the former Chair of the Civil Justice Reform Act Committee, Central district Court of California and Chair (1992-96) of the Executive Committee, Ninth Circuit Judicial conference. Judge Susan Oki Mollway was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a United States District Court Judge om 1998. Since 1986, Ms. Mollway has been a partner at the law firm of Cades Schutte, Fleming, & Wright. She specializes in civil litigation. Ms. Mollway also taught appellate advocacy at the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law and participated as an arbitrator with Hawaii's court-annexed arbitration program. Ms. Mollway attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she earned a bachelor's degree and a masters in English literature, and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii,
Judge Dana Makoto Sarbaw was appointed to the SDCA in 2003. Judge Sabraw is the first Asian Pacific American to serve on that court, and the first Asian Pacific American federal district court judge to be confirmed since 1998. Therefore, he was President Bush's first APA Federal appointment to the judiciary. Prior to his confirmation, Judge Sabraw served for five years as a California Superior Court Judge for San Diego County, and for three years as a Municipal Court Judge in North County Municipal Court. Before then, he was a partner in the San Diego office of Baker & McKenzie. He received his law degree with distinction from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.
Dale Minami is a partner with Minami, Lew and Tamaki in San Francisco, and was admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been involved in significant litigation involving the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities. In 1983, Minami and his firm overturned the criminal conviction of Fred Korematsu, who had refused to obey exclusion orders aimed at Japanese Americans during WWII. In recognition of his achievements, Mr. Minami has received numerous awards including the American Bar Association's 2003 Thurgood Marshall Award, the 2003 ACLU Civil Liberties Award and the State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award.