80-20's 'Legal Eagles' Push for More Judges
By Fel Anthony Amistad, Mar 10, 2006 (reproduced here with the permission of the author)
The 80-20initiative.net political action group convened its annual board of directors meeting in Los Angeles, and scrutinized the "glass ceiling" in the judicial system that prevents appointments of more Asian Americans in the federal courts.
There are only six Asian American district court judges out of 866 Federal judges in the United States, a representation of less than one percent, even though Asian Americans comprise 4.2 percent of the overall population and 5.3 percent of all legal professionals.
"While there are more Asian Americans in the legal professions than either African Americans or Hispanics, Asian Americans have 1/15 those of African American judges and 1/10 those of Hispanic judges," decried S.B. Woo, the group's founder and a former Lt. Governor of Delaware.
Black Americans hold 10.7 percent of federal judgeships and Hispanics make up 6.5 percent. APAs make up only 0.7 percent of all Article III federal judges.
And of the current six APA judges, Ronald Lew, the first Chinese American District Court judge from the Los Angeles region, will soon reach "senior status" and retire.
Lew was joined by Anthony Ishii, the first Japanese American District Judge in the Eastern District of California (Fresno); the Hon. Dana Sabraw, the first Japanese American District Judge from Southern District (San Diego); the Hon. Susan Oki Mollway, the first Japanese American woman District Court Judge (Hawai'i); and Anthony Ching, Esq., the first Chinese American Solicitor General of Arizona.
Mollway commented that her appointment by President Bill Clinton broke two barriers and she still feels that more needs to be done to overcome both racism and sexism in her profession.
Sabraw was recently appointed by President George W. Bush and is mentioned as a possible U.S. Supreme Court nominee for the future, particularly if more people of color and diverse backgrounds are to be considered.
Filipino American 80-20 Director Ademan Angeles of Daly City remarked, "Someday, Filipino Americans will also be members of this elite legal circle. We need to be more active so our fast-growing population can be represented well." There are no Filipino American Article III justices.
The 80-20 initiative has insisted on pressing the Bush Administration, and particularly Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, to enforce Executive Order (EO) 11246 to ensure that "equal opportunity" and fairness are practiced in the workplace.
While EO 11246 deals with federal contractors and subcontractors, Woo stressed that "the lack of Asian American judges due to neglect of past and current U.S. presidents, parallels the call for action to correct this unequal treatment in all sectors of the workplace of America. The lack of Asian American justices is a clear example of 80-20's purpose and need to 'win justice for all.'"
Fel Anthony Amistad is vice president of 80-20 and a graduate of Stanford University, who holds various advanced business and law degrees. Contact him at felamistad8@aol.com.
OCA - GREATER SEATTLE CHAPTER