Steve Kim (born 1972)United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Steve Kim
/ref> is a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

for the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, m ...

who is a former nominee to be a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the same court.

Education

Born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Kim received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, with special distinction, from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

in 1996 and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

, from

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

in 1999, where he was inducted into the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

and served as Notes & Comments Editor of ''

The Georgetown Law Journal ''The Georgetown Law Journal'' is a student-edited scholarly journal published at Georgetown University Law Center. It is the flagship law review of the Georgetown University Law Center. Overview The ''Georgetown Law Journal'' is headquartere ...

''."President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees and United States Marshal Nominee" White House, September 20, 2019

Career

Upon graduation from law school, Kim served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

to Judge

Sidney R. Thomas Sidney Runyan Thomas (born August 14, 1953) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1996. He served as the Ninth Circuit's chief judge from 2014 to 2021. H ...

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 ...

and Judge

Stephen Victor Wilson Stephen Victor Wilson (born March 26, 1941) is a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Education and career Wilson has claimed that he was born in Ne ...

of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before his work as a federal prosecutor, Kim practiced civil trial and appellate litigation at

Munger, Tolles & Olson Munger, Tolles, & Olson LLP (MTO) is a Californian law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Charles Munger founded the firm in 1962 along with six other attorneys. Legal practice Munger, Tolles & Olson is know ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Beginning in 2003, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Before taking the bench, Kim was the Managing Director for Stroz Friedberg, LLC, where he advised clients in cybersecurity compliance,

data privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data pr ...

, and law and technology issues.

Federal judicial service

United States magistrate judge

He assumed office as a

in 2016. In that capacity, he presided over the

arraignment Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant, to inform them of the charges against them. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea. Acceptable pleas vary among jurisd ...

of actress

Lori Loughlin Lori Anne Loughlin (; born July 28, 1964) is an American actress. From 1988 to 1995, she played Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'', and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fuller House'' (2016–2018). Loughlin ...

, in her trial for

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

in connection with the admission of her daughters to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, which was part of the larger

Varsity Blues scandal In 2019, a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The investigation into the conspiracy was code named Operation Varsity Blues. The investigation and rela ...

. Kim set Loughlin's bail at $1 million.

Expired nomination to district court

On September 20, 2019, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

announced his intent to nominate Kim to serve as a

for the

. On November 21, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Kim to the seat vacated by Judge

Beverly Reid O'Connell Beverly Ann Reid O'Connell (May 12, 1965 – October 8, 2017) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Early life and education O'Connell was born Beverly Ann Reid on May 12, ...

, who died on October 8, 2017."Nine Nominations Sent to the Senate Today", White House, November 21, 2019
/ref> Kim was "recommended for appointment by California's Democratic senators", and noted to have an "apolitical background and relatively noncontroversial record", for which it was therefore predicted that he "should be confirmed relatively comfortably". However, on January 3, 2020, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of 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 ...

. On February 13, 2020, his renomination was sent to the Senate. On January 3, 2021, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the

References

External links

* 1972 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers Date of birth missing (living people) American jurists of Korean descent Assistant United States Attorneys California lawyers Georgetown University Law Center alumni People associated with Munger, Tolles & Olson Lawyers from Seoul United States magistrate judges University of Oklahoma alumni {{US-federal-judge-stub