Dale Ho
{{Short description|American judge (born 1977)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox judge
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| name = Dale Ho
| image = Dale Ho (Judge).jpg
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| office = Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
| term_start = August 18, 2023
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| appointer = Joe Biden
| predecessor = Katherine B. Forrest
| successor =
| pronunciation =
| birth_name = Dale Edwin Ho{{cite book|url=https://bulletin.yale.edu/sites/default/files/yale-law-school-2005-2006.pdf|title=Bulletin of Yale University, Series 101 Number 8|date=August 10, 2005|publisher=Yale Law School}}
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1977}}
| birth_place = San Jose, California, U.S.
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| education = Princeton University (BA)
Yale University (JD)
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| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=|title=Dale Ho's voice|type=speech|description=Dale Ho's opening statements to the Supreme Court in Department of Commerce v. New York
Recorded April 23, 2019}}
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Dale Edwin Ho (born 1977){{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Ho%20SJQ%20Public%20Final.pdf|title=Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|access-date=November 30, 2021}} is an American lawyer serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to becoming a judge, he was the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's voting rights project.
Early life and education
Ho was born in 1977 in San Jose, California to immigrants to the United States from the Philippines.[https://gothamist.com/news/judge-in-eric-adams-case-fought-for-voting-rights-against-trump-citizenship-question "Judge in Eric Adams case fought for voting rights, against Trump citizenship question,"] Gothamist. He received his Bachelor of Arts in political philosophy, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1999 with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He then received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2005.{{cite press release|title=President Biden Names Eighth Round of Judicial Nominees|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/30/president-biden-names-eighth-round-of-judicial-nominees/|date=September 30, 2021|publisher=White House Press Office}}
Career
Ho served as a law clerk to Judge Barbara S. Jones of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2005 to 2006 and Associate Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals from 2006 to 2007.{{Cite web |title=Fried Frank Fellowship Opens Doors |url=https://www.friedfrank.com/siteFiles/Site%20Pages/Fried%20Frank%20Fellowship%20Opens%20Doors%20.pdf |access-date=October 5, 2021 |website=www.friedfrank.com |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022185147/https://www.friedfrank.com/siteFiles/Site%20Pages/Fried%20Frank%20Fellowship%20Opens%20Doors%20.pdf |url-status=dead }} Through a one-year Fried Frank Civil Rights Fellowship, he worked for the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson as an NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF) Fellow from 2007 to 2009. He then worked as a staff attorney with the NAACP LDF from 2009 to 2013,{{Cite press release|title=LDF Issues Statement on President Biden's New Judicial Nominees |url=https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-issues-statement-on-president-bidens-new-judicial-nominees/ |access-date=October 5, 2021 |website=www.naacpldf.org}} where he worked on legislative redistricting projects, including anti-gerrymandering efforts.{{cite news |last1=Service |first1=Ronnie EllisCNHI News |title=Lawmaker wants prisoners to be counted in redistricting |url=https://www.richmondregister.com/news/local_news/lawmaker-wants-prisoners-to-be-counted-in-redistricting/article_1734fe88-0acc-56be-b3fe-e2a7069a2928.html |access-date=March 25, 2021 |work=Richmond Register |date=August 24, 2011 |language=en}}
In 2013, Ho became Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Voting Rights Project. In 2014, Ho began teaching election law as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School starting in 2013, and a racial justice clinic as an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law starting in 2014.{{cite news |last1=Kalmbacher |first1=Colin |title=Biden Nominates ACLU Voting Rights Head to Federal Judgeship in New York; Progressives Praise Choice of 'Democracy's Lawyer' |url=https://lawandcrime.com/judiciary/biden-nominates-aclu-voting-rights-head-to-federal-judgeship-in-new-york-progressives-praise-choice-of-democracys-lawyer/ |access-date=October 1, 2021 |work=Law & Crime |date=September 30, 2021}}[https://www.brooklaw.edu/contact-us/ho-dale/ "Dale Ho,"] Brooklyn Law School.[https://congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110060/witnesses/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-HoD-20191017-U1.pdf "Dale Ho,"] Congress.gov.
In 2019, Ho was one of five ACLU lawyers featured in the documentary The Fight, produced by actress Kerry Washington, which followed his preparation, oral argument, and reaction in the United States Supreme Court proceedings around Department of Commerce v. New York{{cite news |last1=Kenigsberg |first1=Ben |title='The Fight' Review: Pressing the Case, or Cases |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/movies/the-fight-review.html |access-date=March 19, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=July 30, 2020}} (see Notable cases, below).
= Notable cases =
In 2018, Ho was a lead attorney in Fish v. Kobach, in which the district court ruled that it was illegal to require documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.{{cite news |last1=Desrochers |first1=Daniel |url=https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article254643767.html |title=Attorney who helped toss Kobach's voter registration law nominated for federal judgeship|access-date=October 1, 2021 |publisher=McClatchy |date=September 30, 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Cassens Weiss |first1=Debra |title=Judge strikes down Kansas voter ID law and orders Kris Kobach to take additional CLE |url=https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge_strikes_down_kansas_voter_id_law_and_orders_kris_kobach_to_take_addit |access-date=March 19, 2021 |work=ABA Journal |language=en}} Ho argued the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which affirmed the Kansas district court's ruling.{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-kansas-voting-rights-elections-us-supreme-court-f12295c7870a94eb7749d94fa5e7019b|work=Associated Press|title=Supreme Court won't revive Kansas voter registration ID law|date=December 14, 2020}}
Ho argued twice against the Trump administration in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. In Department of Commerce v. New York (2019), Ho represented a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups who successfully challenged Donald Trump's plan to include a citizenship question on the 2020 United States census questionnaire.{{cite news |last1=Sherman |first1=Mark |last2=Gresko |first2=Jessica |title=Justices to weigh Trump census plan to exclude noncitizens |url=https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-immigration-us-supreme-court-courts-67f13dacddd136420b4bc49ac301f273 |access-date=March 26, 2021 |work=Associated Press|date=October 16, 2020}}
In Trump v. New York (2020), the ACLU unsuccessfully challenged the Trump administration's plan to exclude illegal immigrants from the U.S. congressional apportionment process.
= Federal judicial service =
From the start of President Joe Biden's administration, Ho had been considered a potential nominee for a federal judgeship.{{cite news |last1=Kragie |first1=Andrew |title=65 Names To Watch When Biden Picks Circuit Judges – Law360 |url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1338187/65-names-to-watch-when-biden-picks-circuit-judges |access-date=March 26, 2021 |work=www.law360.com |date=January 3, 2021 |language=en}} The public criminal defense and voting rights attorney was a candidate of the Biden administration's program to open up the field to practitioners outside the traditional pool of corporate lawyers and prosecutors.Luc Cohen. Reuters reporter. (19 February 2025). "Who is Dale Ho, the judge deciding whether to drop Eric Adams' case?". [https://www.aol.com/news/dale-ho-judge-deciding-whether-180341178.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma AOL website] Retrieved 20 February 2025. On June 7, 2021, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recommended Ho for a federal judgeship to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.{{cite news |last1=Alder |first1=Madison |title=Schumer Recommends Voting Rights Lawyers for Federal Bench |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/schumer-recommends-voting-rights-lawyers-for-federal-bench |access-date=June 7, 2021 |work=Bloomberg Law |date=June 7, 2021 |language=en}} On September 30, 2021, Biden nominated Ho to serve as a judge of that court,{{Cite web|url=https://lawandcrime.com/judiciary/biden-nominates-aclu-voting-rights-head-to-federal-judgeship-in-new-york-progressives-praise-choice-of-democracys-lawyer/|title = Biden Nominates ACLU Voting Rights Head to Federal Judgeship in New York; Progressives Praise Choice of 'Democracy's Lawyer'|date = September 30, 2021}} to the seat vacated by Judge Katherine B. Forrest, who resigned on September 11, 2018.{{Cite press release |title=Nominations Sent to the Senate |date=September 30, 2021|publisher=The White House |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/30/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-37/}} {{PD-notice}}
On December 1, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{Cite web |title=Nominations |date=December 1, 2021 |publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/11/24/2021/nominations}} During his confirmation hearing, Ho apologized for his "overheated rhetoric" on social media, which included past tweets critical of three Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, and Tom Cotton.{{cite news |last1=Scarcella |first1=Mike |title=In bid for N.Y. federal bench, ACLU litigator apologizes for 'overheated' tweets |url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/bid-ny-federal-bench-aclu-litigator-apologizes-overheated-tweets-2021-12-01/ |access-date=December 17, 2021 |work=Reuters |date=December 1, 2021 |language=en}} He was questioned by senators over a tweet in which he appeared to refer to himself as a "wild-eyed sort of leftist"; he explained that he was "referring to a caricature of the way other people may have described me, not how I would describe myself."{{cite news |last1=Bendery |first1=Jennifer |title=John Kennedy Tells Biden Nominee Dale Ho He's Too 'Angry' To Be A Federal Judge |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-kennedy-dale-ho-angry-judge_n_61a7c299e4b0ae9a42b6fddb |access-date=December 17, 2021 |work=HuffPost |date=December 2, 2021 |language=en}} A resurfaced video from 2018 showed Ho calling the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College "undemocratic" and arguing that voting should be made easier and that people with criminal convictions should not lose the right to vote.{{cite news |title=Biden Trial Court Pick Dale Ho Target of Conservative Ad (1) |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/biden-trial-court-pick-dale-ho-target-of-conservative-group-ad |access-date=December 17, 2021 |work=Bloomberg Law |date=November 30, 2021 |language=en}} The conservative Judicial Crisis Network launched a $300,000 television ad campaign against Ho, the group's first TV campaign against a Biden judicial nominee;{{cite news |last1=Nichols |first1=Hans |title=Conservative group targets Biden court pick ahead of Mississippi abortion case |url=https://www.axios.com/conservatives-targets-biden-pick-dale-ho-fc60ea1d-fa48-4293-a7dc-ef53ed14ec14.html |access-date=December 17, 2021 |publisher=Axios |date=November 30, 2021}} in response, progressive group Demand Justice launched a six-figure ad campaign in support of Ho.{{cite news |last1=Swanson |first1=Ian |title=Demand Justice launches ad campaign backing Biden nominee who drew GOP pushback |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/584497-demand-justice-launches-ad-campaign-backing-biden-nominee-who-drew |access-date=December 17, 2021 |work=The Hill |date=December 6, 2021 |language=en}}
On January 3, 2022, his nomination was returned to President Biden under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate;{{Cite web |title=PN1501 — Dale E. Ho — The Judiciary |url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/1501 |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=Congress.gov}} he was renominated the same day.{{Cite press release |title=Nominations Sent to the Senate |date=January 3, 2023 |publisher=The White House |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/03/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-91/}} {{PD-notice}} On January 20, 2022, the committee failed to report his nomination by an 11–11 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/EBM%20Results%201.20.222.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting – January 20, 2022|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|access-date=January 20, 2022}} On June 14, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–49 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00160.htm|title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Dale E. Ho to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York)|website=United States Senate|date=June 14, 2023|access-date=June 14, 2023}} Senator Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to vote against cloture and against confirmation of Ho's nomination, stating Ho was "extreme left" and accusing him of "hateful words" and "partisanship."{{Cite news|last=Cohen|first=Zach C.|title=Manchin to Oppose Dale Ho Nomination to New York Court Seat (2)|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/senator-manchin-to-oppose-hos-nomination-to-new-york-court-seat|website=Bloomberg Law|access-date=June 14, 2023}}{{Cite news|last=Bolton|first=Alexander|title=Manchin rips Biden judicial nominee for 'hateful words' and 'partisanship'|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4050367-manchin-rips-dale-ho-biden-judicial-nominee/amp/|website=The Hill|access-date=June 14, 2023}} Later that same day, his nomination was confirmed by a 50–49 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00162.htm|title=On the Nomination (Confirmation: Dale E. Ho, of New York, to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York)|website=United States Senate|date=June 14, 2023|access-date=June 14, 2023}}{{Cite news|last1=Headley|first1=Tiana|last2=Alder|first2=Madison|title=ACLU's Dale Ho Confirmed to New York-Based US District Court|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/aclus-dale-ho-confirmed-to-new-york-based-us-district-court|website=Bloomberg Law|access-date=June 14, 2023}}{{Cite news|last=Weaver|first=Al|title=Senate confirms Dale Ho to Southern District New York court seat|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4050312-senate-confirms-dale-ho-to-southern-district-new-york-court-seat/amp/|website=The Hill|access-date=June 14, 2023}} Ho was only the second ACLU lawyer to be confirmed directly to the federal bench as an Article III judge, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg.{{Cite news |last= Bendery |first= Jennifer |title= In Big Win For Progressives, Senate Confirms Dale Ho To Be A Federal Judge |url= https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dale-ho-federal-judge-voting-rights_n_64823f29e4b06725aedea304 |date= June 14, 2023 |work= HuffPost.com |access-date= June 14, 2023}} He received his judicial commission on August 18, 2023.{{FJC Bio|nid=13705596|inline=yes}}
= Notable cases as a judge =
On September 25, 2024, he was randomly assigned to the prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, No. 24-cr-556 (S.D.N.Y.).{{Cite news|title=New York City Mayor Eric Adams Charged With Bribery And Campaign Finance Offenses|url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams-charged-bribery-and-campaign-finance-offenses|website=justice.gov|access-date=September 26, 2024}}
Personal life
Ho is a member of the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{FJC Bio|nid=13705596}}
- [https://www.aclu.org/bio/dale-ho Dale Ho's biography at the ACLU]
- {{IMDb name|id=nm8741350|name=Dale Ho}}
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{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York}}|years=2023–present}}
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{{United States 2nd Circuit district judges}}
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Category:21st-century American lawyers
Category:American Civil Liberties Union people
Category:American civil rights lawyers
Category:American jurists of Filipino descent
Category:Brooklyn Law School faculty
Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Category:New York University School of Law faculty
Category:People associated with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
Category:People associated with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden