Senate confirms L.A. attorney Dolly Gee as judge; she'll be first Chinese-American woman on federal bench

Los Angeles attorney Dolly Gee is about to become the first Chinese-American woman to serve as a U.S. District Court judge.

President Obama nominated Gee, the daughter of immigrants from a small village in southern China, in August. The Senate confirmed her nomination on Christmas Eve.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) praised her confirmation.

"As a daughter of immigrants from rural China, she personifies the American dream," Boxer said in a statement. "She used her position as a prominent attorney in Los Angeles to promote racial tolerance and fight for justice for those who face discrimination."

Gee's father was a World War II veteran who later worked as an aerospace engineer on projects including the space shuttle and the Apollo missions, according to a statement released by Boxer's office.

"Dolly's mother… was a garment worker who never taught Dolly to sew because she did not want her daughter to have to stitch clothes for a living," Boxer said at a confirmation hearing.

In 1994, President Clinton appointed Gee, who has specialized in labor and employment law, to serve as a mediator and arbitrator in disputes between federal agencies and labor unions. Clinton also nominated her for the federal bench in 1999, but she was unable to win confirmation from a gridlocked Senate before he left office.

She is a past president of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Assn.

-- Hector Becerra

 

Comments

[don keyhote]

...hooray!!!....but why is this article written like this??....we are so hung-up on racism that we don't see the forest for the trees..latent racism!!!....how about "appointed to the bench" and a brief history of the person and we draw our own conclusions......we are only manifesting our racism by our writings, shouldn't it be best we all admit we are racist to some degree and try to correct our feelings and hope we become better people otherwise we are being hypocritical! ....be-aware with words of print, it is a powerful tool.....please, stop manifesting racism!!!!

[GeneTierney]

I am still waiting for my cousin Edward Chen to be confirmed by the Senate.

[GeneTierney]

I am still waiting for Edward Chen, my cousin, to be confirmed by the Senate.

[Lee Kushner]

I hope Judge Gee does not take the same, offensive, polarizing approach to decisions, as people who laud her being a credit to her race and a fighter against racial injustice. All too often, the latter means ignoring the types of reverse discrimination which are rampant in this country. I agree wholeheartedly with the first commenter: present the facts of this "first," and her record, and then, let's just be Americans with our own judgments. We need to stop making every, single thing a matter of race, because that is the worst racism and stupidity. When we do, we will be able to take an honest look, finally, at issues such as the overwhelming problems today's immigration policies cause.

[jeff glenn]

don keyhote couldn't have said it better! why are we continually perpetuating racism by talking about it?

[syscom3]

"promote racial tolerance". Is she going to stop the non stop war between blacks and hispanics?

LOL.

[ferenc]

so we'll have judges when china takes over?

[don keyhote]

...a tip of the lance!.....judges don't start/stop wars.....politicians do because we let them.....reflections is a learning tool to a better society....we will all get a good a wake-up when our children marry or adopt out of their culture and we have to decide what is important to us.....by the way, the chinese own more gold than the usa at fort knox...we may need a chinese lawyer to bail us out!!!!!

[Edge]

Why is race even a factor? I like to think she got her post by her qualifications and nothing more. Racism is still alive and well, judging by this article. Congratulations on your post, Judge Gee.

[ferenc]

yea, racism is still alive. the racists are the la times writers.