Litigation

Calif., R.I. Make Advances in Judicial Diversity

By Jennifer Pfanzelt

Two states, California and Rhode Island, have made progress toward a more diverse federal judiciary.  Jaqueline Nguyen, (left)  a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, became the  first Vietnamese American woman to be confirmed to the federal bench,  while O. Rogeriee Thompson, Rhode Island’s first female African American Superior Court  judge, was appointed to a federal judgeship.

According to a NBC Los Angeles article,  Judge Nguyen, who has served as a Superior Court judge in LA County since 2002, was endorsed for nomination by a bipartisan advisory committee in California and was confirmed unanimously on Dec. 1 by the Senate.

Originally from South Vietnam, Nguyen fled to the U.S. with her family in 1975 upon South Vietnam’s defeat by Northern Vietnam. According to the NBC article, she was praised by Ca. Senator Dianne Feinstein as “a tested judge with a track record of success as both a judge and a federal prosecutor.”

Judge Thompson’s story is chronicled in a Providence Journal column, which
applauds  her success in the first phase of confirmation.

With modest beginnings in segregated North Carolina, Judge Thompson (right) moved on to study law at Boston University, and eventually become the first African American woman to sit on a Rhode Island district court and superior court.

In her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Jack Reed stated: ?We came to the conclusion Judge Thompson was uniquely qualified to serve on the First Circuit,” and that she is a “worthy nominee for this historic occasion.” The columnist also mentioned that Judge Thompson has been an outspoken supporter of diversity on the bench.

Judge Thompson now awaits the committee to schedule a vote on her confirmation within the next week, which would then proceed to the Senate should she receive a majority.

For more on diversity on the state and federal bench, click here to see other Gavel Grab posts. Or see the Justice at Stake diversity page.

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).