Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen ( vi, Nguyễn Hồng Ngọc; born May 25, 1965) is an American lawyer who serves as a
United States circuit judge
In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
. She previously served as a United States district judge of the
from 2009 to 2012 and as a California superior court judge from 2002 to 2009.
Early life and education
Born Hong-Ngoc Thi Nguyen ( vi, Nguyễn Thị Hồng Ngọc) in
Da Lat
Da Lat (also written as Dalat, vi, Đà Lạt; ), is the capital of Lâm Đồng Province and the largest city of the Central Highlands region in Vietnam. The city is located above sea level on the Langbian Plateau. Da Lat is one of the mo ...
,
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, Nguyen moved to the United States when she was 10, after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975.
The daughter of a South Vietnamese army major who had worked closely with U.S. intelligence officials, Nguyen moved with her family first to an army tent at
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by O ...
, where she lived for several months.
[ They ultimately settled in the La Crescenta-Montrose area of Los Angeles.] Her family later opened a doughnut shop in Glendale, California, where Nguyen worked throughout high school and college.
Nguyen earned her Artium Baccalaureus degree in English in 1987 from Occidental College.[Alt URL]
She then earned a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...
in 1991.
Professional career
From 1991 until 1995, Nguyen worked in private law practice, specializing in civil litigation as a litigation associate at the firm Musick, Peeler & Garrett.[ In particular, she focused on commercial disputes, intellectual property and construction-defect cases.][ From 1995 until August 2002, Nguyen served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California. She joined the U.S. Attorney's office in its Public Corruption and Government Fraud section, overseeing ]United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
fraud prosecutions.[ In her final years in the U.S. Attorney's office, Nguyen also held the role of Deputy Chief of the General Crimes section, training new prosecutors in the Central District.][ In August 2002, Nguyen was appointed by then-California Gov. Gray Davis to be a ]Superior Court of Los Angeles County
The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States.
The L ...
judge.[ Nguyen became the first-ever Vietnamese-American woman appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court.][ She had been based in ]Alhambra, California
Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11 ...
.
Federal judicial service
District court service
On July 31, 2009, President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
nominated Nguyen to a seat on the ,[ vacated by Judge ]Nora Margaret Manella
Nora Margaret Manella (born January 22, 1951) is the Presiding Justice of the California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four and a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of Cal ...
, who resigned in 2006 to join the California Courts of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts. . Senator Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...
had recommended Nguyen's nomination.[ On September 23, 2009, Nguyen appeared before the ]Senate Judiciary Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...
, which reported her nomination on October 15, 2009. On December 1, 2009, the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
confirmed Nguyen by a 97–0 vote. She received her commission on December 4, 2009. On May 15, 2012, her service on the District Court terminated due to her elevation to the court of appeals.
Ninth Circuit service
On September 22, 2011, President Obama nominated Nguyen to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
. The Senate confirmed Nguyen by a 91–3 vote on May 7, 2012. She received her commission on May 14, 2012.
She is the first Asian-American female to serve as a federal appellate judge. She is also the first Vietnamese-American federal judge, and the first Asian-Pacific American female federal judge in California. In 2012, she was speculated to be a candidate for the Supreme Court.
In February 2016, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' identified her as a potential nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
Notable cases
On September 3, 2015, Nguyen granted relief to Edin Avendano-Hernandez, a Transgender Mexican, because she showed adequate proof that she would likely face torture if deported back to Mexico. Nguyen was joined by Harry Pregerson and Barrington D. Parker, Jr.
On December 29, 2017, Nguyen partially dissented when Stephen Reinhardt
Stephen Roy Reinhardt (born Stephen Roy Shapiro; March 27, 1931 – March 29, 2018) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with chambers in Los Angeles, California. He was the last federal ...
and Harry Pregerson blocked an execution due to the mental health of the criminal defendant.
On June 6, 2019, Nguyen ruled against Hyundai and Kia, ruling that they lied about their fuel economy and did not show that the California law would not apply.[http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/06/06/15-56014.pdf ]
Personal life
Nguyen's husband, Pio S. Kim, was also a federal prosecutor.[
]
See also
* Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
President Barack Obama made two successful appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first was Judge Sonia SotomayorMark SilvaSonia Sotomayor is Obama's Supreme Court nominee ''Los Angeles Times'' (May 26, 2009). to fill the va ...
* Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the president of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States. Following his vi ...
* List of Asian American jurists
Research history
Studies led by California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu (2017) and the Center for American Progress (2019) Full report: provided in-depth statistics into the issue.
Judicial officers
This is a dynamic list of Asian Ameri ...
* List of first women lawyers and judges in California
* List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
This list of the first women lawyers and judges in each state of the United States includes the years in which the women were admitted to practice law. Also included are women of other distinctions, such as the first in their states to get law de ...
References
External links
*
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Jacqueline
1965 births
21st-century American judges
Academics of Vietnamese descent
American people of Vietnamese descent
American jurists of Asian descent
Assistant United States Attorneys
California state court judges
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Living people
Occidental College alumni
People from La Crescenta-Montrose, California
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama
United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama
UCLA School of Law alumni
21st-century American women judges