Miranda Du

Miranda Mai Du
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada
Assumed office
March 30, 2012
Appointed by Barack Obama
Preceded by Roger L. Hunt
Personal details
Born (1969-12-11) December 11, 1969
Cà Mau, South Vietnam
(now Vietnam)
Education University of California, Davis (B.A.)
University of California, Berkeley School of Law (J.D.)

Miranda Mai Du (born December 11, 1969) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

Early life and education

Born in Cà Mau, Vietnam, Du left the country at age 9, when her family sought asylum in Malaysia.[1] They spent a year in Malaysian refugee camps before ultimately being granted asylum in the United States.[1] Du received a Bachelor of Arts from University of California, Davis in 1991 and a Juris Doctor from University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1994.[2][3]

Professional career

Upon graduating law school, Du took a job as an associate at the law firm McDonald Carano Wilson LLP. She was promoted to partner in 2002.[3]

Federal judicial service

On August 2, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Du to replace Judge Roger L. Hunt who took senior status in 2011.[2] On November 3, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly reported her nomination to the Senate floor in a party-line, 10–8 vote.[4] On March 28, 2012, Du's nomination was confirmed by a vote of 59 ayes to 39 nays.[5] She received her commission on March 30, 2012.[3][6] Du became the first Asian Pacific American to serve as an Article III judge in Nevada.[7]

Notable decisions

In January 2015, Judge Du granted the habeas petition of Jose Echavarria, a death row inmate convicted of killing an FBI agent. Echavarria's attorneys argued that his trial was unfair because the presiding judge was also being investigated by the FBI - a fact they did not learn until after the trial ended. Judge Du agreed and ruled that Echavarria was entitled to a new trial.[8]

In October 2016, Judge Du granted several Nevada Native American tribes a preliminary injunction which required the state to set up early voting and election day polling locations on their reservations. The plaintiffs argued that many of them would have to travel nearly 100 miles round trip to reach polling sites, and that Section II of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 required the state to take the location of their reservations into account when planning polling locations. Judge Du agreed in part, granting preliminary early voting and election day relief, but found that the plaintiffs did not have standing to seek in-person voter registration staffing as well.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Gulden, Erin (July 2009). "An Ocean of Experience". Mountain States Rising Stars 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  2. 1 2 The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (August 2, 2011). "President Obama Nominates Miranda Du to the United States District Court Bench". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 "Du, Miranda Mai - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  5. ↑ "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112th Congress - 2nd Session". Senate.gov. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  6. ↑ Linehan, Lawren. "Las Vegas Review-Journal". Lvrj.com. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  7. ↑ "Miranda Du Confirmed as Nevada's First APA Federal District Court Judge". Rafu.com. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  8. ↑ "Bias finding prompts new trial in Vegas FBI agent murder". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  9. ↑ "Judge rules partially in favor of tribes in federal suit". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Roger L. Hunt		 Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada
2012–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.