Orange County Register

Jacqueline Nguyen

Jacqueline Nguyen was just confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate as the nation’s first Vietnamese American federal judge.

“Judge Nguyen is a tested judge with a track record of success as both a judge and a federal prosecutor,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said on the Senate floor.

Feinstein said the bipartisan committee that advises her on judicial nominations gave Nguyen its unanimous recommendation.

Nguyen, currently a state Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles, will become a member of the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California. She a former assistant U.S. Attorney specializing in corruption and fraud.

Here’s what Feinstein said on the Senate floor today about Nguyen’s background:

“Judge Nguyen was born in South Vietnam. She came to this country at the age of 10 during the final days of the Vietnam War. The Nguyens spent several months living at a refugee camp in Camp Pendleton, San Diego before moving to the La Crescenta neighborhood of Los Angeles.

“She was naturalized in 1984.

“Judge Nguyen’s parents worked two and three jobs at a time in Los Angeles, and Judge Nguyen and her siblings worked side-by-side with them — cleaning a dental office, peeling and cutting apples for a pie company, and finally managing the donut shop that their parents bought and owned. ”

Nguyen graduated from Occidental College in 1987 and UCLA Law School in 1991. Former Gov. Gray Davis appointed her to the Superior Court in 2002.

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