Active Asian-American & Pacific Islander Article III Judges

Article III of the Constitution created the U.S. Supreme Court and gave Congress the power to create the federal courts of appeals and district courts. Since 1789, more than 3,427 judges have served on Article III courts. Currently, there are 29 active Article III Judges who are Asian-American and Pacific Islander.

Court of Appeals

The 94 U.S. judicial districts are organized into 12 regional circuits, each of which has a United States Court of Appeals. This court hears appeals from the district courts located within its circuit and appeals from decisions of federal administrative agencies. In addition, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction to hear appeals in specialized cases, such as those involving patent laws and cases decided by the Court of International Trade and the Court of Federal Claims.

Judge	Court	Commission	Status	Gender
A. Wallace Tashima	Ninth Circuit	1/4/1996	Senior Status 6/30/04	Male
Amul Roger Thumper	Sixth Circuit	5/25/2017	Active	Male
Denny Chin	Second Circuit	4/23/2010	Active	Male
Jacqueline H. Nguyen	Ninth Circuit	5/14/2012	Active	Female
Jennifer Choe Groves	U.S. Court of International Trade	6/8/2016	Active	Female
Raymond T. Chen	Federal Circuit	8/2/2013	Active	Male
Sri Srinivasan	DC Circuit	5/24/2013	Active	Male

District Courts

The United States District Courts are the trial courts of the federal court system. Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the District Courts have jurisdiction to hear nearly all categories of federal cases, including both civil and criminal matters.

There are 94 federal district courts, including at least one district court in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Three territories of the United States—the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands—have District Courts that hear federal cases, including bankruptcy cases.

Judge	Court	Commission	Status	Gender
Amit Priyavadan Mehta	District of Columbia	12/19/2014	Active	Male
Amul Roger Thapar	Kentucky (ED)	1/4/2008	Active	Male
Anthony W. Ishii	California (ED)	10/14/1997	Senior Status 10/31/12	Male
Cathy Bissoon	Pennsylvania (WD)	10/19/2011	Active	Female
Dana M. Sabraw	California (SD)	9/26/2003	Active	Male
Derrick K. Watson	Hawaii	4/23/2013	Active	Male
Dolly M. Gee	California (CD)	1/4/2010	Active	Female
Edmond E. Chang	Illinois (ND)	12/20/2010	Active	Male
Edward M. Chen	California (ND)	5/12/2011	Active	Male
George H. King***	California (CD)	6/30/1995	Terminated/Retired 1/6/17	Male
George H. Wu	California (CD)	4/17/2007	Active	Male
Indira Talwani	Massachusetts	5/12/2014	Active	Female
John Z. Lee	Illinois (ND)	5/8/2012	Active	Male
Kiyo A. Matsumoto	New York (ED)	7/22/2008	Active	Female
Leslie E. Kobayashi	Hawaii	12/22/2010	Active	Female
Lorna G. Schofield	New York (SD)	12/13/2012	Active	Female
Lucy H. Koh	California (ND)	6/9/2010	Active	Female
Manish S. Shah	Illinois (ND)	5/1/2014	Active	Male
Miranda Du	Nevada	3/30/2012	Active	Female
Pamela K. Chen ±	New York (ED)	3/5/2013	Active	Female
Ronald S.W. Lew	California (CD)	5/7/1987	Senior Status 9/19/06	Male
Susan Oki Mollway***	Hawaii	6/23/1998	Senior Status 11/6/15	Female
Theodore D. Chuang	Maryland	5/2/2014	Active	Male
Vince Chhabria	California (ND)	3/7/2014	Active	Male

Legend

CD - Central District	ED - Eastern District	MD - Middle District	ND - Northern District	SD - Southern District
WD - Western District	± LGBT	*** Current Chief Judge

Data is based on information collected through July 31, 2017. To learn more about the federal courts go to www.fjc.gov.

Judge Herbert Young Cho Choy

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Herbert Y. C. Choy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, making him the first Asian-American to serve in this position.