Washington—U. S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today issued the following statement on the nomination of Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen to serve on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Nguyen is currently a U.S. District Judge in the Central District of California.

“I am pleased Judge Jacqueline Nguyen has been nominated by President Obama to serve on the U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals,” said Senator Feinstein. “Two years ago I recommended her for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California; her confirmation to that seat made her the first Vietnamese-American on the federal bench.

“In her application to my selection committee for her current District Court seat, Judge Nguyen described fleeing Vietnam as young girl after the fall of Saigon. Despite those difficult circumstances, she wrote, ‘I nevertheless feel incredibly fortunate because those early years gave me invaluable life lessons that have shaped who I am today.’

“I have no doubt Judge Nguyen’s character and her judicial experience make her well-qualified to serve with distinction on the U.S. Court of Appeals. I look forward to a speedy confirmation by the Senate.”

Jacqueline H. Nguyen

Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen was born in Dalat, Vietnam. In 1975 she fled the country with her family after the fall of Saigon. Her family was placed at a refugee camp in Camp Pendleton, Calif., where they lived in a tent city for several months before settling in the Los Angeles area.

Nguyen received her A.B. from Occidental College in 1987 and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1991. She began her legal career at the law firm of Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP, where she was a litigation associate from 1991 to 1994.

In 1995, she joined the United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the criminal division. Judge Nguyen was appointed to the state bench as Judge of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles in 2002 and remained a judge on that court until she was appointed to the federal bench in 2009.

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