China

Chinese-American jurists raise the bar

By Eric Baxter
Updated: 2009-09-28 00:00

MACHESTER, New Hampshire: It has been a banner year for Chinese-American jurists, with three major bench appointments by the Obama administration in 2009.

Denny Chin, the federal judge who sentenced Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison earlier this year, will be named to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. And US District Court Judge Edward Chen and California attorney Dolly Gee, have been named to positions on the California District Courts.

“This is a time of firsts,” said Texas Solicitor General James Ho, regarding the rise of Asian Americans within the national legal system. Ho, is the first Asian-American solicitor general in the Lone Star State’s history. “It’s a critical time for the (Asian) community. More people are starting to see Chinese-Americans as fully qualified to take the reins of leadership in this country.”

While Chinese-Americans have played roles in political, social and legal life for decades, only now they are rising to prominence.

Vincent Eng, deputy director of the Washington, DC-based Asian American Justice Center said only eight of the 857 active federal district court judges—less than 1 percent—were Asian American. Asian Americans make up about five percent of the total country population.

“Asians are very much underrepresented,” Eng said. “We’re working to change this by helping advocate for Asian Americans like the current nominees.”

Judge Chen serves as a federal magistrate for California’s Northern District. As magistrate, he is appointed to an eight-year term by the federal judge, who defines his duties. He was appointed magistrate in 2001, and was recently reappointed for a second term. If appointed to the federal bench, he would be the first Asian American Article III judge in San Francisco, where Asian Americans comprise about 35 percent of the population.

Chen’s father emigrated from China as a merchant in the 1920s, and his mother immigrated to Texas in the late 1930s during the Sino-Japanese war.

During his September 23 nomination hearing, Chen spoke about the need for diverse backgrounds among judges and the judiciary as a whole, and said such diversity allows for broader depth of understanding and better judgment.

Gee, also waiting an appointment decision, has served her community as a lawyer and advocate in a number of capacities since graduating in 1984 with a JD degree from the UCLA School of Law. If appointed, she would be the first Chinese American Article III judge in United States history. Also under nomination is Jacqueline Nguyen.

Gee’s parents emigrated from small farming villages in Toisan, China. Her father served in the Navy during WWII and later worked on the Apollo space missions, while her mother served as a garment worker. Gee’s mother is reportedly the inspiration for Gee’s work in labor and employment law.

Gee and Chen declined to comment when contacted about this story.

Eng said his group, with the National Asian and Pacific American Bar Association, has lobbied hard with senators to bring Asian American names to their attention for appointment and advancement.

While the Chinese-American legal community waits for the final decision on appointing Gee and Chen, they should not forget others that paved the way for their efforts.

Among the luminaries are California State Supreme Court justice Ming Chen; lawyer, legal scholar and current legal adviser to the State Department Harold Koh; Howard University professor and author Frank H. Wu, and Judge Nguyen.

Both Eng and Ho said while ethnicity played a role in choosing Chen, Gee and Chin for promotion there were larger considerations and forces at work.

“We wanted great lawyers as well,” Ho said.

He defined a great lawyer as a person having a strong passion for the law, a strong intellect and the emotional fortitude to wade through the thorny issues that often crop up in cases, especially those that reach the federal level.

“You want someone who can get the core of a case and has a strong work ethic,” Ho said, adding integrity and ethics, both legal and personal, were necessary.

For Eng, as well as Ho, the legal and emotional side is needed as balance and understanding of where they came from and the value and character of their community.

For Asian Americans and other minorities, this is perhaps more important.

“Many of these jurists are first generation lawyers,” Eng said. “Not first generation Americans, most are second or third, but the first lawyer in their family or community.”

Eng said Chen and Gee had fewer connections to law firms or access to the established paths many lawyers and jurists could tap, but they overcame the challenges.

“We’re becoming more active on the national scene,” he said.

With the possible resignations of at least two Supreme Court justices expected in the coming years, Chinese and Asian Americans could be positioned for a nomination or appointment to the country’s highest court.

Several names have been mentioned, but the one that stands out the most is Denny Chin, who serves as a judge in the Southern District of New York based in Manhattan, NY. This is the busiest federal courthouse, with cases ranging from terrorism trials to celebrity disputes to white-collar crime.

It was Chin that heard and ruled on Bernie Madoff’s guilty plea following the revelation that Madoff bilked investors out of billions of dollars in one of the country’s largest Ponzi schemes.

Chin was appointed to the federal court by Bill Clinton in 1994 and has logged several controversial rulings during his tenure. Among these were quashing an attempt to toughen New York’s laws on tracking sexual offenders and overturning the jury conviction of a stock broker accused of trading ahead of his client’s buys.

Chin declined to comment when reached for this story.

The 15-year veteran of the federal district court is likely one of the most influential Chinese-American judges in the United States, as he is expected to assume Sonia Sotomayor’s seat on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Historically, the federal appeals court has served as the farm league for Supreme Court justices. It is here they “cut their teeth” on rendering influential, and often precedent setting, judgments.

“It’s hard to speculate on something like that,” Ho said of the possibility of a Chin nomination. “But this is a time of firsts, and that leads to seconds. Who knows what could happen?”