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Lucy H. Koh

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Lucy H. Koh
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Current Court Information:
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Title:   Judge
Position:   Seat #13
Service:
Appointed by:   Barack Obama
Active:   6/9/2010 - Present
Preceded by:   Ronald Whyte
Personal History
Born:   1968
Home State:   Washington, DC
Bachelors:   Harvard U., B.A., 1990
Law School:   Harvard Law School, J.D., 1993

Contents

Lucy H. Koh is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. [1] She was nominated by President Barack Obama on January 20, 2010 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 90-0 on June 7, 2010. [2]

Early life and education

Judge Koh earned her B.A. in 1990 from Harvard University and her J.D. in 1993 from Harvard Law School. [3]

Professional career

After graduating from law school, Judge Koh served as a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Fellow. She then worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, first as a Special Counsel in the Office of Legislative Affairs, and later as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General. In 1997, she moved to Los Angeles to join the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California as an Assistant United States Attorney. In 2000, she joined the private sector in Silicon Valley. She was appointed to the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara by Governor Schwarzenegger in January 2008. Prior to her appointment to the Superior Court, she was a litigation partner at McDermott Will & Emery. [2][1]

Judicial career

Northern District of California

On January 20, 2010, on the recommendation of Senator Boxer, President Obama nominated Koh to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. [3] She was nominated to the seat vacated when Ronald Whyte assumed senior status. [4]

Koh is the first Korean-American district judge in United States history. [5][6]

Koh was rated "Unanimously Qualified" by the American Bar Association. [7]

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

Koh's Public Questionnaire Available Here
Questions for the Record Available Here

Koh had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 11, 2010. She received some questions from Republican Senator Jeff Sessions regarding her writings in law school where she said that minority judges must maintain the "disguise of objectivity" or face challenges. Sessions expressed concern about what that might mean about her own objectivity on the bench. Koh responded by saying that she'd forgotten that she ever wrote the passage and that "I completely disagree that there is no objectivity. Our rule of law would break down if everyone were to insert their own personal biases." [8] The Committee voted to forward her nomination to the full Senate on March 4, 2010 [9][10] and on June 7, 2010 the Senate voted 90 - 0 to confirm Koh as a federal judge. [11]

Notable cases

Awards and associations

See also

External links

References

Federal judicial offices
Preceded by:
Ronald Whyte
Northern District of California
2010–Current
Seat #13
Succeeded by:
NA


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