Lucy H. Koh

Lucy H. Koh

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Tenure

2021 - Present

Years in position

2

Prior offices

United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Successor: P. Casey Pitts

---

Bildung

Bachelor's

Harvard University, 1990

Law

Harvard Law School, 1993

Personal

Birthplace

District of Columbia

Lucy Haeran Koh is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. She was nominated to the court by President Joe Biden (D) on September 20, 2021, and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 13, 2021, by a vote of 50-45. To see a full list of judges appointed by Joe Biden, click here.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is one of 13 U.S. courts of appeal. They are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal courts. To learn more about the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, click here.

Prior to her nomination, Koh was a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She was nominated by President Barack Obama (D) on January 20, 2010, and was confirmed by the United States Senate by a vote of 90-0 on June 7, 2010.

Judicial nominations and appointments

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (2021-present)

See also: Federal judges nominated by Joe Biden

On September 20, 2021, President Joe Biden (D) nominated Koh to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. She was confirmed by a 50-45 vote of the U.S. Senate on December 13, 2021. Koh received commission on December 14, 2021. To read more about the federal nominations process, click here.

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
Name: Lucy Koh
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 84 days after nomination.
ANominated: September 20, 2021
AABA Rating: Well Qualified
Questionnaire: Questionnaire
AHearing: October 6, 2021
Hearing Transcript: Hearing Transcript
QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more)
AReported: October 28, 2021
AConfirmed: December 13, 2021
AVote: 50-45

Confirmation vote

The U.S. Senate confirmed Koh by a vote of 50-45 on December 13, 2021. To see a full breakdown of the vote on the official U.S. Senate website, click here.

Lucy Koh confirmation vote (December 13, 2021)
Party	Yea	Nay	No vote
Democratic	48	0	0
Republican	0	45	5
Independent	2	0	0
Total	50	45	5

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on Koh's nomination on October 6, 2021. The committee voted to advance Koh's nomination to the full Senate on October 28, 2021.

Nomination

On September 8, 2021, President Joe Biden (D) announced his intent to nominate Koh to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The president officially nominated Koh on September 20.

Koh was nominated to replace Judge Richard A. Paez, who is scheduled to assume senior status upon the confirmation of his successor.

The American Bar Association rated Koh Well Qualified with one recusal. To read more about ABA ratings, click here.

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (2016)

See also: Federal judges nominated by Barack Obama

On February 25, 2016, Koh was nominated by President Barack Obama (D) to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. On January 3, 2017, Koh's nomination was returned to President Obama at the sine die adjournment of the 114th Congress.

Obama commented on the nomination, saying, "Judge Lucy Haeran Koh has distinguished herself as a first-rate jurist with unflagging integrity and evenhandedness. I am grateful for her service to the state of California and look forward to adding her considerable wisdom and experience to the Ninth Circuit Court."

The American Bar Association rated Koh Substantial Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified for the nomination.

Hearings on Koh's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on July 13, 2016, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on September 15, 2016. On January 3, 2017, Koh's nomination was returned to President Obama at the sine die adjournment of the 114th Congress.

Northern District of California (2010-2021)

See also: Federal judges nominated by Barack Obama

On January 20, 2010, on the recommendation of Senator Barbara Boxer, President Obama (D) nominated Koh to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She was nominated to the seat vacated when Ronald Whyte assumed senior status.

Koh was the first Korean-American district judge in United States history.

Koh was rated Unanimously Qualified by the American Bar Association.

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

Koh's Public Questionnaire Available Here

Questions for the Record available here

Koh had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 11, 2010. She received some questions from Republican Senator Jeff Sessions regarding her writings in law school where she said that minority judges must maintain the "disguise of objectivity" or face challenges. Sessions expressed concern about what that might mean about her own objectivity on the bench. Koh responded by saying that she had forgotten that she ever wrote the passage and that she "completely disagree[d] that there [was] no objectivity. Our rule of law would break down if everyone were to insert their own personal biases." The Committee voted to forward her nomination to the full Senate on March 4, 2010, and on June 7, 2010, the Senate voted 90-0 to confirm Koh as a federal judge.

Biography

Bildung

Judge Koh earned her bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1990 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1993.

Professional career

• 2021-present: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• 2010-2021: Judge, Northern District of California
• 2008-2010: Judge, Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara
• 2000-2008: Attorney, McDermott Will & Emery
• 1997-2000: Assistant U. S. attorney, Central District of California
• 1994-1997: United States Department of Justice

• 1996-1997: Special assistant, Deputy Attorney General
• 1994-1996: Special counsel, Office of Legislative Affairs

• 1993-1994: Fellow, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Awards and associations

• Former member of the Board of Directors of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California

Noteworthy cases

Judge denies Apple’s request to enjoin Samsung (2014)

Apple, Inc. requested that a federal court issue a permanent injunction against Samsung Electronics, claiming Samsung violated three of its patents. The injunction would have prevented Samsung from producing several of its products. A federal judge, however, refused to issue the injunction.

Judge Lucy Koh found that, despite the fact that a jury found Samsung used three of Apple’s patents without permission in May 2014, Apple failed to make its case that it was being harmed beyond repair by Samsung’s products. Apple also failed to link the alleged harm to the infringement on its patents by Samsung.

This court battle is actually part of a larger legal battle between Apple and Samsung. There are patent infringement cases pending in U.S. courts, as well as foreign jurisdictions.

Articles:

• Jurist, "Federal judge denies Apple request to ban Samsung phones, tablets," August 28, 2014
• Apple Insider, "Judge denies Apple injunction against Samsung devices in second California patent trial," August 27, 2014

Dismissal of suit over website's disclosure of members' HIV status (2014)

See also: United States District Court for the Northern District of California (Doe v. SuccessfulMatch.com, 5:13-cv-03376-LHK)

On April 16, 2014, Judge Koh granted SuccessfulMatch.com's motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' suit for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted, specifically, that the website would keep private their STD- and HIV-positive statuses.

In the underlying case, plaintiffs Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 joined the site PositiveSingles.com, a website operated by SuccessfulMatch.com, which was marketed toward daters with sexually transmitted diseases. They asserted that they were "lured" into joining the site by the defendant's "empathetic sounding statements." Plaintiffs claimed they were unaware of the fact that the details of their "anonymous" profiles (i.e., their STD statuses) would be available to all of SuccessfulMatch.com's users. Thereafter, plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in July 2013, alleging violations of California's deceptive business practices law, as well as its Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

The defendant website company filed a motion to dismiss the case, and Judge Koh granted it, noting that Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 "failed to specifically allege that they saw any of the statements that they claim [were] misleading, or how the website statements impacted their decisions to register with defendant's website." In addition, Koh wrote that the plaintiffs' claims failed due to the fact that they did not "allege how knowledge of defendant's omissions about affiliated sites would have impacted [their] decision to register for PositiveSingles.com."

About the court

Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals
Judgeships
Posts: 29
Judges: 29
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Mary Murguia
Active judges: Bridget S. Bade, Mark J. Bennett, Daniel Bress, Patrick J. Bumatay, Consuelo Maria Callahan, Morgan Christen, Daniel P. Collins, Roopali Desai, Danielle Forrest, Michelle T. Friedland, Ronald Gould, Sandra Ikuta, Anthony Johnstone, Lucy H. Koh, Kenneth Kiyul Lee, Sal Mendoza Jr., Eric D. Miller, Mary Murguia, Ryan D. Nelson, Jacqueline Nguyen, John B. Owens, Johnnie Rawlinson, Gabriel Sanchez, Milan Smith, Jennifer Sung, Holly Thomas, Lawrence VanDyke, Kim McLane Wardlaw, Ana I. de Alba Senior judges: Carlos Bea, Marsha Berzon, Jay Bybee, William Canby, Richard Clifton, Ferdinand Francis Fernandez, William Fletcher, Susan Graber, Michael Hawkins, Andrew Hurwitz, Andrew Kleinfeld, Margaret McKeown, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Richard Paez, Mary Schroeder, Barry Silverman, Randy Smith, Richard Tallman, A. Wallace Tashima, Sidney Thomas, Stephen Trott, John Clifford Wallace, Dorothy Wright Nelson

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a federal appellate court with appellate jurisdiction. It hears appeals from all of the circuit courts within its jurisdiction and its rulings may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Ninth Circuit is the largest appellate court with 29 authorized judicial posts. Appeals are heard in the James R. Browning Federal Courthouse in San Francisco, California, the Richard H. Chambers Courthouse in Pasadena, California, the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, and the William K. Nakamura Courthouse in Seattle, Washington.

One judge of the Ninth Circuit went on to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Anthony Kennedy was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan (R).

Map of the Ninth Circuit. Click on a district to find out more about it.

The Ninth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases heard in one of its subsidiary districts. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law. Appeals of rulings by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals are petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Elena Kagan is the circuit justice for the Ninth Circuit.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:

District of Alaska District of Arizona Central District of California Eastern District of California Northern District of California Southern District of California District of Hawaii

District of Idaho District of Montana District of Nevada District of Oregon Eastern District of Washington Western District of Washington

It also has appellate jurisdiction over the following territorial courts:

• United States District Court for the District of Guam
• United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands

To read opinions published by this court, click here.

The federal nomination process

Federal judges are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. There are multiple steps to the process:

• The president nominates an individual for a judicial seat.
• The nominee fills out a questionnaire and is reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing with the nominee, questioning them about things like their judicial philosophy, past rulings or opinions, etc.

• As part of this process, the committee sends a blue slip to senators from the home state in which the judicial nomination was received, allowing them to express their approval or disapproval of the nominee.

• After the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to approve or return the nominee.

• If approved, the nominee is voted on by the full Senate.
• If the Committee votes to return the nominee to the president, the president has the opportunity to re-nominate the individual.

• The Senate holds a vote on the candidate.

• If the Senate confirms the nomination, the nominee receives a commission to serve a lifelong position as a federal judge.
• If the Senate does not confirm the nomination, that nominee does not become a judge.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• United States District Court for the Northern District of California

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
• United States District Court for the Northern District of California
• Superior Court of Santa Clara County
• California Courts, "Trial Court Roster"

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 2021-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	United States District Court for the Northern District of California 2010-2021	Succeeded by P. Casey Pitts

Federal judges nominated by Barack Obama
Nominated	Federal judges nominated by Barack Obama