Judge Lucy Koh Deserves Swift Confirmation To The Ninth Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 6, 2021 – This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for the nomination of Judge Lucy Koh to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Koh has already served capably as a judge for 14 years, including a full decade as a federal district judge. President Obama previously nominated her to the Ninth Circuit and she received bipartisan support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the Senate never considered her nomination — later filling that vacancy with one of President Trump’s nominees.
Judge Koh has extensive experience as a judge, and she is widely respected for her subject matter expertise in the realms of privacy, technology, and intellectual property. She has issued approximately 3,250 opinions on a wide range of issues with a reversal rate of just 1.3%. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Koh had a distinguished career in public service and private practice, where she demonstrated a tremendous commitment to equal justice for all. This includes several years Judge Koh spent at the Department of Justice, including as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, before developing her intellectual property knowledge at two leading Northern California firms. Koh would also be the first Korean-American woman to serve as a federal appellate judge and the third woman from the AAPI community to serve on any U.S. Circuit Court.
A second panel also included four other judicial nominees: Jane Beckering (Western District of Michigan), Shalina Kumar (Eastern District of Michigan), Carolyn Lerner (Court of Federal Claims), and Armando Bonilla (Court of Federal Claims). In addition to being eminently qualified, all four district court nominees would bring important diversity to the federal bench, including Ms. Kumar, who would be the first federal judge of South Asian descent in Michigan.
Alliance for Justice President Rakim Brooks issued the following statement:
“With the nomination of Judge Lucy Koh, the Senate Judiciary Committee is presented with the opportunity to confirm an exceptionally well qualified and experienced judge to a crucial vacancy on the Ninth Circuit. Judge Koh has a decade of experience on the district court and would bring a phenomenal understanding of technology and intellectual property issues to a court with jurisdiction over Silicon Valley. Additionally, Judge Koh already received bipartisan support from the Senate Judiciary Committee five years ago when she was previously nominated to serve on the Ninth Circuit. Judge Koh has a demonstrated track record as a fair and impartial judge, and she is ready to serve now. She and all the other exceptional nominees the Committee heard from today deserve swift, bipartisan confirmations.”