Edward Chen

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Edward Chen
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Current Court Information:
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Title:   Judge
Position:   Seat #9
Service:
Appointed by:   Barack Obama
Active:   5/12/2011 - Present
Preceded by:   Martin Jenkins
Past post:   Federal Magistrate Judge
Past term:   2001 - 2011
Personal History
Born:   1953
Home State:   Oakland, CA
Bachelors:   U. of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1975
Law School:   U. of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1979

Contents

Edward Milton Chen is an article III judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He joined the court in 2011 after an appointment from Barack Obama. Prior to his appointment, Chen was a federal magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.[1]

Early life and education

Chen received his undergraduate degree in 1975 from the University of California – Berkeley and his law degree in 1979 from Boalt Hall School of Law. [2][1]

Professional career

After law school, Judge Chen served as a law clerk for Charles Renfrew on the Northern District of California and James Browning on the Ninth Circuit. From 1982 until 1985, Chen was an associate with the San Francisco law firm Coblentz, Cahen, McCabe & Breyer. As a private lawyer in 1983, he was part of the legal team that won reversal of Fred Korematsu's conviction for refusing to report for the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942. The Supreme Court had ruled against Korematsu in 1944 and said the internment was justified by military reports that Japanese Americans were aiding Japan's armed forces. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of San Francisco cleared Korematsu nearly 40 years later and said the military had known at the time that no such evidence existed. [3] Chen worked as a staff lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1985 - 2001. [2][4] [1]

Judicial career

Northern District of California, Magistrate

Chen became a federal magistrate judge in 2001. [4] After his initial term expired, he was reappointed to a new eight-year term. [5]

Northern District of California

On the recommendation of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chen was nominated by President Obama for an Article III judgeship on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, replacing judge Martin Jenkins.[6] [2][7]


He was rated Unanimously Well Qualified by the American Bar Association. He had his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 23, 2009 and you can find his Hearing Transcript Here. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination 12 - 7 on October 15, 2009, but the full Senate returned Chen's nomination to the President on December 24, 2009. [8] Senator Feinstein reiterated her support for Judge Chen and her hope that the President will renominate Judge Chen for the U.S. District Court in an interview published in the San Francisco Chronicle on December 29, 2009.[9] On January 20, 2010, Obama renominated Judge Chen [10] and on February 4, 2010 the Senate Judiciary Committee again approved the nomination with a 12 - 7 party line vote. [11][12]


On August 5, 2010, the Senate returned the nomination of Chen to President Obama for a second time, refusing to debate and offer a vote before the body adjourned for its month-long recess. From here the President has the option to renominate Chen, or appoint another individual to the court. [13] President Obama is expected to renominate Chen when the Senate returns from its current recess.[14]


On September 13, 2010, President Obama again submitted Chen's nomination to the U.S. Senate. [15]


Chen's nomination was returned to the President at the end of the 111th congress. President Obama resubmitted the nomination on January 5, 2011. Chen's nomination was confirmed by a Senate vote of 56-42 on May 9, 2011. [16]

Conservative objections

Chen's nomination has come under fire from the GOP, who consider him to bring "too great a risk of judicial activism" to the bench, and citing his 15 years with the ACLU as potentially problematic. [17][18][19] The Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination 12 - 7, with Democrats voting to approve and Republicans voting against. [4] Ranking Republican Committee member Jeff Sessions criticized Chen's statement in a 2005 speech questioning whether the government's response to Hurricane Katrina would have been better had New Orleans' population been upper class and white. "Both his writings and public comments while a magistrate ... suggest that Judge Chen believes judges should interpret the law according to their personal understandings and preferences" said Sessions, whose own nomination to the federal bench was defeated by the same committee in 1986. [5] The Washington Times has editorialized against the nomination of Chen, calling him "a biased radical willing to impose his own politics from the bench". [20]

Response to conservative objections

Many California community leaders have risen in defense of Chen's nomination from the attacks of conservatives. Charles Renfrew, a former U.S. District Court judge and former deputy attorney general, stated: "When considering his nomination, senators should focus on his eight-year record of fairly and impartially presiding as a magistrate, a record that has won him plaudits from numerous law enforcement officials." [21] Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who recommended Chen to President Obama, said Chen "has made the transition from advocate to judge, and I do not believe there is a spot, a blemish, a wart on his record as a magistrate." [22] Andrew Hahn, Past President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, wrote in a letter to the Editor of the Washington Times, "Instead of taking quotations out of context, consider what Judge Chen told the Senate Judiciary Committee: 'It is never proper for judges to indulge their own values in determining what the law means. Judges should do everything humanly possible to uphold their oath to apply the law without regard to a person's status.'" [23]

See also

External links

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Wikipedia has an article on

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Official FJC Bio of Judge Chen
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 White House Press Release "President Obama Nominates Edward Milton Chen, Dolly Gee and Richard Seeborg to Serve on the District Court Bench", August 7, 2009
  3. San Francisco Chronicle "Confirmation votes set for judge nominees", October 17, 2009
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 CQ Politics "Partisan Tensions Intensify Over Judicial Nominations", October 15, 2009
  5. 5.0 5.1 San Francisco Chronicle "Confirmation votes set for judge nominees", October 17, 2009
  6. Biography from Federal Judicial Center
  7. Los Angeles Times "Obama names four new federal judges for California" August 9, 2009
  8. Judicial Nomination Materials: 111th Congress
  9. SFGate "Senate GOP opposes S.F. judicial nominee", December 29, 2009
  10. Point of Law.com, "President renominates previously blocked judicial candidates", January 21, 2010
  11. San Francisco Chronicle "Senate panel backs Obama's judge nominee", February 5, 2010
  12. Blog of Legal Times "Republicans Say They'll Support DOJ Policy Pick", February 4, 2010
  13. The Los Angeles Times, "Goodwin Liu Nomination Blocked," August 6, 2010
  14. San Francisco Chronicle, "Republicans block Bay Area judicial nominees," August 7, 2010
  15. The White House, Press Release: "Presidential Nominations Sent to Senate," September 13, 2010
  16. 112th Congress Confirmation Materials
  17. Human Events "'Press 1 for English' Nominee Voted Up by Senate Judiciary", October 16, 2009
  18. Blog of Legal Times "ACLU Back as a Whipping Boy", October 15, 2009
  19. The Reality Check "Obama’s Newest Racemongering Judge: California’s Edward Chen", October 16, 2009
  20. Washington Times "EDITORIAL: Another judicial radical", October 25, 2009
  21. Sacramento Bee "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Quotes Could Hurt Nominee", November 18, 2009
  22. San Francisco Chronicle "Confirmation votes set for judge nominees", October 17, 2009
  23. Washington Times "LETTER TO EDITOR: Judge not a judge's personal views", October 30, 2009
Federal judicial offices
Preceded by:
Martin Jenkins
Northern District of California
2011–Current
Seat #9
Succeeded by:
NA


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