More than 600 days after President Obama first nominated him, Oakland native and Marin County resident Edward Chen was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a seat on Northern California’s federal bench Tuesday.
The vote was 56-42. Four Republicans — Scott Brown, R-Mass.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine — joined Democrats in supporting Chen.
Chen, 58, has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in San Francisco since 2001; earlier, he had been a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union since 1985, and an associate at the firm of Coblentz, Cahen, McCabe and Breyer from 1982 to 1985. He clerked for 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Browning from 1981 to 1982, and for U.S. District Judge Charles Renfrew from 1979 to 1980.
Republicans long had refused to allow a confirmation vote for Chen because of what they perceived as his liberal background, especially his ACLU association. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., criticized Republicans for this on the Senate floor Tuesday, given their lack of specific complaints about his years of work as a magistrate judge. She commended Chen “for his strength and perseverance over the past 21 months.”
Obama nominated Chen on Aug. 7, 2009, and the Senate Judiciary Committee sent him to the floor that October on a 12-7, party-line vote; the Senate returned Chen’s nomination to the White House that December after Republicans stonewalled a floor vote. Obama renominated him in January 2010, the committee again approved him in February 2010, and again his nomination was returned to the president in August 2010. Obama nominated him a third time in September, and then a fourth time in January.
Chen earned a bachelor’s degree from the UC Berkeley in 1975 and a law degree from Cal’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1979. He is registered to vote as a Democrat. Federal judges serve lifetime terms and earn an annual salary of $174,000.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she was “delighted” by the confirmation, and praised Chen for having “both judicial experience and a proven judicial track record. He is a solid, tested, and a respected judge with over a decade of experience on the federal bench.”
Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, issued a statement noting Chen’s confirmation comes during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and “is a step toward fulfilling President Obama’s promise of a well qualified and diverse judiciary,” especially given Asian-Americans’ severe underrepresentation on the federal bench.
“On a personal note, Judge Chen was on the legal team that successfully represented Fred Korematsu in a case overturning his World War II conviction for failure to comply with the Japanese interment order,” Honda wrote. “As a Japanese-American who was interned, it heartens me to know that we will have an advocate for our community serving in my home state of California.”
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