| Jacqueline Nguyen | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office December 4, 2009 |
|
| Appointed by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Nora Manella |
| Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County | |
| In office 2002–2009 |
|
| Appointed by | Gray Davis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1965 (age 46–47) Da Lat, South Vietnam (now Vietnam) |
| Spouse(s) | Pio Kim |
| Alma mater | Occidental College (A.B.) UCLA School of Law (J.D.) |
Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen (born in Da Lat, South Vietnam 1965) is a judge from Los Angeles County, California and a former federal prosecutor. She is currently a United States district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and a nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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Born Hong-Ngoc Thi Nguyen in Da Lat, Vietnam, Nguyen moved to the United States when she was 10, after the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975.[1] The daughter of a South Vietnamese army major who had worked closely with U.S. intelligence officials, Nguyen moved with her family first to an army tent at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where she lived for several months.[1] They ultimately settled in the La Crescenta-Montrose area of Los Angeles.[2][3] Her family later opened a doughnut shop in North Hollywood, where Nguyen worked throughout high school and college.[4]
Nguyen earned her undergraduate degree in English in 1987 from Occidental College.[1][2][5] She then earned a law degree from UCLA School of Law in 1991.[5]
From 1991 until 1995, Nguyen worked in private law practice, specializing in civil litigation as a litigation associate at the firm Musick, Peeler & Garrett.[1][5] In particular, she focused on commercial disputes, intellectual property and construction-defect cases.[2]
From 1995 until August 2002, Nguyen served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California. She joined the U.S. Attorney's office in its Public Corruption and Government Fraud section, overseeing United States Department of Defense fraud prosecutions.[1] In her final years in the U.S. Attorney's office, Nguyen also held the role of Deputy Chief of the General Crimes section, training new prosecutors in the Central District.[1][5]
In August 2002, Nguyen was appointed by then-California Gov. Gray Davis to be a Superior Court of Los Angeles County judge.[5] Nguyen became the first-ever Vietnamese-American woman ever appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[1] She has been based in Alhambra, California.[6]
On July 31, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Nguyen to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central District of California,[5] vacated when Nora Margaret Manella left the federal judiciary to join the California Courts of Appeal in 2006. Senator Dianne Feinstein had recommended Nguyen's nomination.[6] On September 23, Nguyen appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which reported her nomination on October 15.[7] On December 1, 2009, the full United States Senate voted 97-0 to confirm Nguyen.
On September 22, 2011, Barack Obama nominated Nguyen to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Her nomination is pending before the U.S. Senate. [8]
She is the first U.S. district judge appointed by President Obama who was later nominated to a higher level federal judgeship by the same president.
Nguyen's husband, Pio S. Kim, is a federal prosecutor.[1][2]