Asian American Groups Urge Supreme Court to Hold That Legal Permanent Residents Should Not Be Retroactively Subjected to Harsh New Legal Consequences

WASHINGTON — Members of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice—the Asian American Justice Center, Asian Law Caucus and Asian Pacific American Legal Center—have joined an amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, brief in Vartelas v. Holder.  The brief urges the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which seeks to remove a legal permanent resident’s (LPR) right to make “innocent, casual and brief” trips abroad without fear that he will be denied reentry, does not apply retroactively. The brief was filed Nov. 22 by Washington Square Legal Services.

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Brigadier General Coral Wong Pietsch, USA (Ret)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 2, 2011) — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) applauds President Obama for nominating Brigadier General Coral Wong Pietsch, USA (Ret) to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. If confirmed, General Pietsch would be the first Asian Pacific American to sit on that court. General Pietsch delivered the 2003 NAPABA convention keynote address in Hawaii.

“We are proud to see another first in Asian Pacific American history with the nomination of General Pietsch,” said Paul O. Hirose, President of NAPABA. “She has been a trailblazer in every step of her career, and we are confident that she will continue to distinguish herself as the first Asian Pacific American to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.”

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Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen (Facebook photo)

WASHINGTON (Sept. 22, 2011) — President Obama on Thursday nominated Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to the White House Office of the Press Secretary

Judge Nguyen has served as a United States District Judge in the Central District of California in Los Angeles since 2009.

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LOS ANGELES (Aug. 23, 2011) — The Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, congratulates the Citizens Redistricting Commission for recently completing its responsibility of redrawing California’s Assembly, Senate, Board of Equalization and Congressional districts based on Census 2010 data.

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WASHINGTON (August 2, 2011) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Miranda Mai Du to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.  If confirmed, Ms. Du would be only the third Asian Pacific American in U.S. history to serve as an Article III judge outside of the east and west coasts. She would also become the first-ever Asian Pacific American to serve as an Article III judge in Nevada.

“Miranda Du will be an esteemed addition to the Federal bench for the people of Nevada,” President Obama said. “I am grateful for her dedication to public service.”

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Professor Goodwin Liu

LOS ANGELES – This week California Governor Jerry Brown nominated UC Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin H. Liu to become a Justice of the California Supreme Court. Professor Liu is the first Asian Pacific American state high court nomination by Governor Brown, who continues to make choices based on his strong belief in diversity.

During his first Gubernatorial Administration from 1975 to 1983, Governor Brown appointed the first African American to the California Supreme Court (Justice Wiley Manuel, 1977), the first female and first female Chief Justice to the California Supreme Court (Chief Justice Rose Bird, 1977), the first Hispanic American to the California Supreme Court (Justice Cruz Reynoso, 1982), and the first openly gay judge to any court nationwide (Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Lachs, 1979).

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 28, 2011) — On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-32), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and seven of the caucus’s Executive Board Members met with senior White House officials to discuss topics of high importance to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

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LOS ANGELES (JUNE 30, 2011) – The Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, announced Thursday the completion of a joint mapping proposal prepared by three leading voices in the California redistricting process – APALC and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for Fair Redistricting, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the African American Redistricting Collaborative.

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Judge Cindy Truong

Cindy H. Truong was elected the District 7 Judge for Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, in November 2010. The term ends in 2014.

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Rinku Sen is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center and Publisher of Colorlines.com.

By Rinku Sen

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart sex discrimination case on June 21, 2011, a frustrating ruling that doesn’t challenge the existence of bias, but that exempts the company from accountability. The case highlights the difficulty of addressing discrimination at a time when intentional bias is both illegal and socially unacceptable, and yet obvious gender and racial gaps remain. If much, perhaps even most, discrimination is unintentional on a personal level, what responsibility do employers (or our government, or each of us as individuals) have for addressing its institutional consequences?

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