CAPAC celebrates Senate confirmation of Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to Serve as Article III Judge

By Rep. Mike Honda
Chair
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

Today, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) applauds the U.S. Senate for confirming Judge Jacqueline Nguyen as a federal district judge in the Central District of California. CAPAC is proud to have supported Judge Nguyen through her confirmation process. She will be our nation’s first Vietnamese American to serve as an Article III judge.

For the past seven years, Judge Nguyen served on the Los Angeles Superior Court. Prior to that, she was a federal prosecutor with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and served as the Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section. She attended Occidental College and the UCLA School of Law. As a child, along with her family, she escaped the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

I congratulate President Obama on his commitment to ensuring diversity of the federal bench, and thank him for choosing talented Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) jurists of the highest caliber for the federal bench. In addition to Judge Nguyen, President Obama has nominated Judge Denny Chin for an appellate judgeship on the Second Circuit, Edward Chen as a district judge in the Northern District of California, and Dolly Gee as a district judge in the Central District of California.

Judge Nguyen’s confirmation is an important milestone for AAPIs, as the community is sorely underrepresented on the federal bench. Currently, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up less than 1% of federal judges.


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