Judge Eumi Lee – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

A year after naming Judge Trina Thompson to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, President Biden has nominated her Alameda County colleague, Judge Eumi Lee, to join her on the Northern District bench.

Background

Lee got her B.A. from Pomona College in 1994 and her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. After graduating, Lee clerked for Judge Jerome Turner on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and then for Judge Warren Ferguson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Subsequently, Lee joined Keker & Van Nest, shifting in 2005 to become a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). In 2018, Lee became a Superior Court Judge in Alameda County, where she currently serves.

History of the Seat

Lee has been nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, to a seat vacated on May 17, 2023, by Judge William Orrick.

Legal Experience

Lee started her legal career in private practice at the firm of Thelen Reid & Priest, further moving to Keker & Van Nest. During her time in private practice, Lee represented the French company Societe Commerciale Toutelectric in an appeal from a default judgment imposed after striking its answer as a discovery sanction for failing to produce three witnesses for deposition. See Am. Home Assurance Co. v. Societe Commerciale Toutelectric, 104 Cal. App. 4th 406 (2002). The appellate court affirmed the sanction and the default judgment. See id.

While at Keker & Van Nest, Lee was part of the legal team representing Cobra Solutions, Inc., which successfully sued to have San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera disqualified from an investigation of the company as Herrera had previously worked at a firm that had represented Cobra Solutions. See San Francisco v. Cobra Solutions, Inc.,135 P.3d 20 (Cal. 2006). After the trial court disqualified the City Attorney’s office and a divided panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed, the California Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision by Justice Joyce Kennard, affirmed the disqualification of the entire office. See id.

Lee subsequently spent thirteen years as a clinical professor of law at the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), where she co-founded the Hastings Institute for Criminal Justice.

Jurisprudence

Since 2018, Lee has served as a judge on the Alameda County Superior Court. In this role, Lee presides over trial court matters in criminal, civil, family, and other state law matters. Lee was the first Korean American judge in Alameda County.

Statements and Writings

As a law professor, Lee has frequently written on spoken on issues in the law. Early in her time as a professor, Lee joined a Comment urging retention of robust protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) in response to a Request for Information issued by the Department of Labor under President George W. Bush.

Lee has written extensively on prison populations in California, the parole system, and the recurring problem of recidivism. Compare Eumi K. Lee, The Center to Real Reform? Political, Legal, and Social Barriers to Reentry in California, 7 Hastings Race and Poverty L.J. 243 (2010) with Eumi K. Lee, An Overview of Special Populations in California Prisons, 7 Hastings Race and Poverty L.J. 223 (2010). As part of her writing on criminal justice issues, Lee has been a sharp critic of the proliferation of websites publishing booking photos and keeping them up barring payment to take the photos down. See Eumi K. Lee, Monetizing Shame: Mugshots, Privacy, and the Right to Access, 70 Rutgers U.L. Rev. 557 (2017-2018). Lee has argued that such websites essentially ensure that the subjects are forever tainted by the arrest, when where the charges are eventually dropped. See Olivia Solon, Haunted By a Mugshot: How Predatory Web Sites Exploit the Shame of Arrest, Taipei Times, June 18, 2018, https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/06/18/2003695058.

Political Activity

Lee has been a frequent donor to Democratic Party candidates throughout her career. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been a frequent recipient of donations from Lee, having received around $1800 total.

Overall Assessment

If confirmed, Lee would join a federal court that already has a reputation as one of the most liberal in the nation. Lee’s record, while demonstrating her experience and scholarship with various areas of law, also suggests that she would sit within the liberal mainstream of that court. While Lee is likely to draw strong opposition through the confirmation process, she should nonetheless see confirmation by the end of the year.

40 Comments

  1. While I wish the nominee for this seat was a decade or so younger, Eumi Lee is a solid nominee otherwise. Her work in areas from criminal justice, prison population & protections for FMLA should be a welcome addition to likely the most liberal district court in the country.

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  2. With this nomination, there are now two district court seats in California without a pending nominee. One is in the Southern District of California and the other is for de Alba’s seat in the Eastern District of California.

    For the Southern District seat, I’ve said from the beginning I want the seat to go to Armilla Staley-Ngomo from the federal defender’s office. I know that’s probably wishful thinking but there are no Black women on that court and she’d be the first judge of Equatoguinean (Equatorial Guinea) descent.
    At this rate, I worry that the seat will end up going to another San Diego County Superior Court Judge or US Magistrate Judge. I also wouldn’t rule out California Court of Appeal Judge Truc Do (who is Vietnamese-American).

    For the Eastern District seat, it will definitely be someone from the Fresno area. I think I remember someone on this site suggesting Fresno County Superior Court Judge Amy Guerra. While I’d pick her over Magistrate Judge Erica Grosjean, I’d ultimately prefer Fresno County Superior Court Judge Charles J. Lee (a former federal public defender) or AUSA Emilia Morris (who previously served as the Legal Director of Central California Legal Services).

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  4. *History of the Seat:
    Created by 63 Stat. 493 in 1949

    History of the Vacancy:
    (See “History of the Seat” section of the post)

    —

    Eumi Lee: C grade
    Old.
    I will forever disfavor old nominees, especially if there’s a chance of their elevation. We should be seeding the lower courts with younger judges who can be elevated in a later Dem administration, like what Carter did for Clinton and Bush for Trump.
    I am not a racist, so I won’t use her race in my evaluation of her.

    —

    In today’s Report from SCOWIS
    I couldn’t be prouder of the new liberal majority. On Friday they voted to strip/share some of the Chief Justice’s powers. I wouldn’t have thought this possible by liberals a few years ago.
    The fact that they are only stripping some of the Chief’s powers answers my question from last week about removing her. I guess once you’re named chief, you’re locked in for the entirety of your 2-year term.

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      • That and for the entertainment value. If they bash one another so openly in tweets, press releases, and letters, can you imagine how contentious those private conferences are? It’s no longer funny when things get physical, as it supposedly did when the court was deliberating Walker’s union-busting policies, when one of the former conservative justices allegedly (tried to?) choked out the liberal Bradley.
        What a state Wisconsin is.

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    • In California , experienced judicial candidates are more likely to selected by screening committees.

      Youth in and of itself is not an attribute that suggests that someone will be a good judge.If someone younger wants to be a judge there are plenty of options on the state level.Let them cut there teeth there.

      There are several judges who started in state court system on the 9th Circuit. You have Koh, Sanchez, Thomas and Ikuta. That’s how it works here .

      When Schiff gets to the Senate he will have a screening committee too. That’s how the Democrats get campaign funds.

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  5. Judge Lee is another liberal from the Bay Area who’ll fit in with the rest of the Northern District Court. She’s more likely than not to be confirmed unless something comes up in her confirmation hearing.

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  6. It’s a family affair.
    I knew that Justice Stephen Breyer’s brother, Charles Breyer, held this seat. What I didn’t know was that Judge Breyer’s successor and the seat’s most recent occupant, William Orrick, sat in the same seat as his father (William H. Orrick Jr.) did decades before.

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  7. It genuinely pisses me off how much a lot of democratic senators allowed trump to run rough shot and appoint right wing hacks and federalist society members to their district courts.

    Take Illinois, the northern district it has 6! 6 trump judges many who are openly republican and part of the federalist society currently or were former members, this weren’t squishy moderates in the middle, this were republicans.

    Would any republican senator especially in a state as red as Illinois is blue, allow biden to appoint aclu members, NAACP Clerks or southern poverty law center members to be a part of their trial bench? For God sake scott collom a perfectly fine nominee with no issues of being extreme was rejected while durbin and other dems bent over backwards and allowed right wing hacks on their district benches.

    Literally have right wing district court trump hacks steadily blocking Illinois laws passed by the legislature with overwhelming support of the people yet blocked by trump hacks, the reverse in red states is right wing red state district judges affirm their ridiculous red state laws passed, because no serious effort has been made by biden to install liberal judges on red state district court seats. Another trump hack in illinois blocked a law after the suit was filled by bigots Thomas More Society who wanted to throw out the election results in 2020. This are the clear stakes. One side works with the other in good faith the other rams a baseball bat in their opponents face

    Its just shameful and disgraceful for blue states to be littered with trump hacks and right wing judges all because of durbin and other democrats incompetence.
    Btw when are we getting the ‘’package deal’’ for Texas district court seats?
    Please someone should counter my arguments, which district court benches in red states have democratically appointed judges by the numbers, that were former PD, civil rights lawyers, NAACP alum or SPLS lawyers, the GOP would never go for that now, yet blue state senators allow federalist society hacks to get on the district benches no issue.
    Six freaking trump judges just in one district in illinois! bastards!

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    • I pointed this out before and you-know-who gave the usual excuses about the type of Dems that the Illinois senators are, etc.
      This dismal stat is one side of the same coin, with the other side being Dems who prevented Trump from appointing anyone to their home state trial bench but have since made terrible recommendations to Biden.
      New Jersey is Exhibit A.
      Upon the recommendations of the NJ senators, Biden appointed 8 judges to the district court there. 8 people that the NJ senators could have gotten Trump to nominate in a steal/deal.
      The blueness of the state doesn’t matter if all you get are cronies and old timer politicians.
      But Bob Menendez isn’t done yet, investigations and indictments be damned. He’s running for reelection next year.

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  8. I got tired of the Wikipedia idiots saying judicial nominees aren’t notable, so I created my own spreadsheet. All of the nominees that are in red on Wikipedia have bios from their Wikipedia draft page. I also noticed some errors on Wikipedia like for instance some nominees that have the same commission date have the younger judge first. Richard G. Stearns & Patti B. Saris is just one example but there are multiple others. I corrected them on my spreadsheet.

    (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/edit#gid=363222732)

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  9. Sen Feinstein fell in her home and had to be hospitalized.
    If she passes, who knows what will happen with the committee.
    Of course, if Schumer had simply put her on a different committee, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

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    • I’m surprisingly not worried, the hospital visit seemed to be precautionary and nothing suggested that she would miss any time. Not sure if any of the nominees being voted on the week they get back (the Federal Reserve board nominees, an NLRB nominee and an FCC commissioner) are expected to be party-line votes in the event she’s not back then. As far as the SJC is concerned, the 9/7 meeting should be a holdover week for 10 judicial nominees (so Feinstein wouldn’t need to be at that meeting), so they wouldn’t be voted on until the 9/14 meeting at the earliest.

      Of the nominees awaiting a committee vote, the only one I expect to be a party-line vote is Mehalchick, since Republicans drew most of their fire at her during her hearing.

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  12. Not to rain on anyone’s parade here, but any fall by a 90-year old is not minor. I’ve spent a lot of time with a 90-year old recently, with similar ailments to Feinstein, and I hope the Senator came through this without major injury, but they’re going to have to keep an eye on her for more than an overnight observation. Remember, what we hear is being filtered through Feinstein’s staff, not the most forthcoming bunch of folks ever.

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      • I am not going to speculate on Feinstein “passing” as she is alive and well. Let’s treat her like someone who is active and here. Feinstein has already indicated that she will serve out her term. We have to respect that.

        No one from the GOP said they would allow another Democrat to replace Feinstein on SJC if she left. They refused to provide any assurances that it would happen.

        I think Feinstein’s detractors picked up on that and left her alone. We should leave it at that.

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      • Exactly. This is also why nominees can’t be far to the left like so many people here want, since if she is no longer on the committee any party line vote there would result in that person not being confirmed. I know some Republicans have said they would be open to it, but why should they?

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  14. Well since I can’t post to the new Joshua Kolar post until I guess the glitch is fixed, I’ll copy/paste here what I wrote…

    I’ve been torn on this nominee ever since he was announced. Obviously I want Biden to fill all circuit court vacancies with young progressives in a post blue slip world. My idea of an A+ nominee for this seat would have been Jessica Eglin.

    I would have recommended Mario Garcia for this seat as the 7th has never had a Hispanic judge. I know Garcia is from the Southern district & this seat was replacing a judge on the Northern district, but as I’ve said before I think duty station doesn’t matter as much anymore for circuit court seats. Both Trump & Biden have switched districts for nominees they put forward to replace outgoing judges. Garcia is a magistrate judge like both Doris Pryor & Joshua Kolar so it shouldn’t have been much of a stretch to get the senators support.

    I think a second compromise choice for me would have been Zack Myers. With only one Black man confirmed to the circuit courts since January 2014, he would have been a good second Black man in his low 40’s. Since he was confirmed to his current position as US Attorney without opposition, only him being from the Southern district would have likely been the biggest push back similar to Mario Garcia.

    With all that said I do believe in rewarding Republican senators that are working in good faith to fill judicial vacancies. Doris Pryor was a good recommendation based in good faith. While Matthew Brookman doesn’t blow my socks off, he was another good compromise pick for the district court with blue slips involved. There are still two vacancies left on the Southern district so going with the Kolar recommendation should go a long way to filling both of those vacancies.

    I have mentioned several times on this blog I think Biden should nominate more military veterans. It’s harder for the GOP to oppose them so if you can fine some with a decent progressive background, they should be given high priority. While it wasn’t mentioned in Harsh’s write up here, I do remember reading Kolar had worked in a public defenders office in some capacity, albeit for a short amount of time, earlier in his career.

    So bottom line, I can’t give Kolar too high of a grade because he doesn’t have a deep progressive background for this circuit court vacancy that doesn’t require blue slips. But I do have to give him some points for being young, a veteran, a short time at the public defender office, donations to Democrats & at the end of the day being to the left of the judge he is replacing. I understand the WH strategy here with the pick being recommended by senators who is working in good faith.

    Kolar should be confirmed easily, probably exceeding 65 votes. I would give him a B-.

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    • I think Biden’s judicial selection team is actually evaluating potential nominees rather than handpicking someone just because they “check” a box. That’s the way that it should be done.

      I wouldn’t say it’s a “reward” to discuss nominees with Republicans. I think it expedites the process and is easier on the nominees personally.

      I had noticed that Adrienne Nelson had applied for the 9th Circuit but they chose Jennifer Sung instead. That leads me to believe that your area of expertise may be a factor in who they select.

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      • @shawnee68

        But I think you can do both. I think you can find qualified nominees that could gain Republican home state senators support while also checking a box. Mario Garcia was an example of that. But as I said in this case I understand going with who the senators recommended since they have been working in good faith. I just don’t subscribe to the theory that cycling a box means you’re settling.

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      • This guy is someone you wanted based on his surname which has nothing to do with his qualifications.

        You haven’t indicated what makes this Garcia any better than the guy they chose.

        We don’t know if Republican’s forwarded the eventual nominee. How do you know others of the same race as Garcia were not considered?

        Maybe he didn’t do well in his interview if he applied for the position. I am pleased to hear that administration isn’t engaging in tokenism.

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      • Mario Garcia is no token. He is a sitting magistrate judge just like the two 7th circuit court nominees that have been chosen from Indiana. And looking at his resume, he’s just as if not more qualified than both. And I’m not saying he’s the only other Hispanic possibility. I don’t work in the WHC office so I’m just going off my own personal research.

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      • If you want someone of his background then you should provide more than just him. If you pushing this one guy based on his surname and qualifications come after then of course it’s tokenism.

        There are lots of people with nice resumé’s that doesn’t mean you do well in interviews and are eventually selected.

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      • Ok again, if his last name was Garcia, Williams or Dog Shit, he is still highly qualified. He has the exact same job as the two people that were selected & a lengthy career before that. This is a blog on the judiciary so as I’ve told you many times in the past we discuss the judiciary here. I do not work in the WHC office so I do not have inside information as to who was discussed or interviewed. These are my opinions just based off my own personal research.

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      • I am just presenting another perspective from a different angle. You know that qualifications alone are not enough to land a job of that magnitude. That’s assuming that he even applied for or wanted job anyway.

        He may have had the same job but perhaps he did not perform well in his interview. Have you considered that?

        You can’t expect them to choose the guy you like because his background pleases you. That’s all I am saying.

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