A. Wallace Tashima
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Atsushi Wallace Tashima (born June 24, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge 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 a former United States District Judge of 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 ...
. He is the third
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
and first
Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
to be appointed to a
United States Court of Appeals United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
.


Early life

Atsushi Wallace Tashima was born in 1934 in Santa Maria,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, to Yasutaro and Aya Tashima. He is
Nisei Japanese American During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the West Coast because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the ...
. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he was interned at the
Poston War Relocation Center The Poston Internment Camp, located in Yuma County (now in La Paz County) in southwestern Arizona, was the largest (in terms of area) of the ten American concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II. The sit ...
in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, an internment camp for Japanese Americans. After the war his family moved to Southern California. He lived in
Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...
, graduating from Roosevelt High School in
East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
. From 1953 to 1956, Tashima served in the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
, and was honorably discharged with the rank of
sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
. He received a
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 ...
degree from the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
in 1958, and a
Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from the
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
in 1961.


Career

Upon graduation from law school, from 1962 to 1968, Tashima became the Deputy
State Attorney General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney genera ...
for the State of
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. He then joined the Amstar Corporation as an attorney in its Spreckels Sugar Division (1968–1972) and then as the general attorney and vice president of Amstar from 1972 to 1977. Tashima returned to private practice in 1977, as a partner at
Morrison & Foerster Morrison & Foerster LLP (also known as MoFo) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 17 offices located throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. The firm has over 1,000 lawyers who advise cli ...
, in Los Angeles.


Federal judicial service

Tashima was nominated by President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
on May 9, 1980, to a seat on 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 ...
vacated by Judge Warren J. Ferguson. He was confirmed by 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 June 26, 1980, and received commission on June 30, 1980. His service terminated on January 8, 1996, due to elevation to the Ninth Circuit. Tashima was nominated by President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
on April 6, 1995, to a seat on 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 ...
vacated by Judge
Arthur Alarcón Arthur Lawrence Alarcón (August 14, 1925 – January 28, 2015) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in Los Angeles, California, Alarcón was a Staff Sergeant in ...
. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 2, 1996, and received commission on January 4, 1996. He assumed
senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
on June 30, 2004.


Notable cases

*''Donald Walden Jr. v. the State of Nevada'': On December 23, 2019, Tashima ruled for workers that were not paid for overtime work. In the ruling, Tashima also ruled that a state waives its 11th amendment rights when taking the case to federal court. *''East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Barr''
No. 19-16487
(9th Cir. Aug. 16, 2019): Judge Tashima partially dissented when the Ninth Circuit held 2-1 that Trump's asylum ban could take place in New Mexico and Texas but not California or Arizona. Tashima would have blocked the asylum ban in all 4 states. *''Flores v. Barr''
No. 17-56297
(9th Cir. Aug. 15, 2019): Judge Tashima was in a 3-0 majority (with Marsha S. Berzon and William A. Fletcher) that ruled that detained migrant children must get sleep, soap, and clean water. *'' the United States v. Neal Bain''
No. 17-10107
(9th Cir. June 11, 2019): Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Tashima overturned a conviction for armed bank robbery. He held that the defendant's inadvertent placement of a closed pocket knife on a bank counter did not constitute “armed” bank robbery because this action did not “put[] in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon,” which is a requirement for armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). *On March 8, 2019, Tashima ruled that asylum seekers are entitled to habeas review and have the right to appeal their deportations. *''United States v. Evelyn Sineneng-Smith''
No. 15-10614
(9th Cir. Dec. 4, 2018): Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Tashima struck down a statute as unconstitutionally overbroad in violation of the First Amendment. The panel held that 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)—which permits a felony prosecution of any person who “encourages or induces” an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States if the encourager knew, or recklessly disregarded the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law—was unconstitutional because it criminalizes a substantial amount of protected expression in relation to its narrow band of legitimately prohibited conduct and unprotected expression. Judge Tashima wrote, “At the very least, it is clear that the statute potentially criminalizes the simple words – spoken to a son,a wife, a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, a student, a client – ‘I encourage you to stay here.’” He also wrote that the statute appeared to apply to statements amounting to “pure advocacy on a hotly debated issue in our society.” *''González v. Douglas'': While sitting by designation in the United States District Court of Arizona, Judge Tashima ruled that Arizona school officials were motivated by racial animus when they acted to shut down a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson's public schools.


Personal life

Tashima is married and has three children and three grandchildren. He resides in Los Angeles. He is the father of
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning filmmaker and actor
Chris Tashima Christopher Inadomi Tashima (born March 24, 1960) is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. T ...
.


Awards

*Trial Jurist of the Year, Los Angeles County Bar Association (1995–96)Tashima resume
on ISDLS website


See also

*
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 Americ ...
*
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in each state. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their stat ...


References


Sources


A. Wallace Tashima profile
on metnews.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tashima, Atsushi Wallace 1934 births Living people 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges American jurists of Japanese descent Harvard Law School alumni Japanese-American internees 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 Lawyers from Los Angeles People associated with Morrison & Foerster People from Santa Maria, California United States court of appeals judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter United States Marines University of California, Los Angeles alumni