U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh of San Jose was confirmed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Monday, becoming the first Korean American woman to serve on any federal appellate court.
Koh was one of four nominations by President Joe Biden to the country's largest appeals court, and the first to be appointed. She was confirmed by a 50-45 vote along party lines in the Senate.
The 53-year-old was previously nominated to the 9th Circuit court by President Barack Obama in 2016, however her appointment was blocked by Senator Mitch McConnell.
Koh is the child of Korean immigrants and grew up in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she began her legal career by working for the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1993.
In 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Koh as a judge on the Santa Clara County Superior Court. She then was nominated by President Obama to the U.S. Federal Court in San Jose in 2010, where she became the first district court judge of Korean descent. According to Reuters, over the past decade she's presided over "many of Silicon Valley's biggest cases."
California U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke in support for Koh prior to Monday's vote, saying "the country will benefit from her dedication, her integrity, and compassion as a circuit court judge."
He called Koh's story "the epitome of the American Dream." Her parents "fled communism and dictatorship in search for a better life." Koh "studied at public schools" growing up and was "not stranger to poverty and discrimination."
"Now as the first Latino to represent California here in this Senate, I know the importance of diversity at all levels of government, and that includes the judiciary," Padilla said. "Our country is stronger and fairer when we are guided by the voices and experiences of all of our people."
California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who, along with then-Senator Barbara Boxer, recommended Koh's appointment to President Obama in 2010, echoed those thoughts, urging her colleagues to confirm Koh, saying she would be "a welcome addition to the 9th Circuit bench."
She tweeted on Monday that she was "proud to vote to confirm her for a lifetime seat on the 9th Circuit."
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