Jennifer Sung

{{Infobox judge

|name = Jennifer Sung

|image = Jennifer Sung, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge.jpg

|office = Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

|term_start = December 20, 2021

|term_end =

|appointer = Joe Biden

|predecessor = Susan P. Graber

|successor =

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1972}}

|birth_place = Edison, New Jersey, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|education = Oberlin College (BA)
Yale University (JD)

}}

Jennifer Sung (born 1972) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Early life and education

Sung was born in 1972 in Edison, New Jersey, to a Chinese-American family.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Sung%20SJQ%20Public%20Final.pdf|title=Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|access-date=September 7, 2021}} She graduated from Oberlin College in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in politics with honors. From 1994 to 2001, Sung worked as a union organizer for the Service Employees International Union.{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Braden |title=Who Is Jennifer Sung, Biden's Labor-Side 9th Circ. Pick? - Law360 |url=https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/articles/1399156 |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=www.law360.com |date=June 30, 2021 |language=en}} She then attended Yale Law School, where she graduated in 2004 with a Juris Doctor degree.{{Cite web|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/30/president-biden-names-fifth-round-of-judicial-nominees/|title=President Biden Names Fifth Round of Judicial Nominees|date=30 June 2021|website=The White House|access-date=10 December 2021}}

Career

After law school, Sung served as a law clerk to Ninth Circuit judge Betty Binns Fletcher from 2004 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007, she was a Skadden Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. From 2007 to 2013, she worked at Altshuler Berzon LLP in San Francisco. From 2013 to 2017, she was a partner at McKanna Bishop Joffe in Portland, Oregon. From July 1, 2017 to December 20, 2021, she was a member of the Oregon Employment Relations Board.{{cite news|last1=Bernstein|first1=Maxine|title=Oregon labor lawyer, former union organizer nominated to serve as judge on federal appellate court|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/06/oregon-labor-lawyer-former-union-organizer-nominated-to-serve-as-judge-on-federal-appellate-court.html|access-date=28 September 2021|work=oregonlive|date=30 June 2021|language=en}}

= Federal judicial service =

On June 30, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Sung to serve as a United States circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. On July 13, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Sung to the seat to be vacated by Judge Susan P. Graber, who announced her intent to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor.{{Cite web|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/13/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-24/|title=Nominations Sent to the Senate|date=13 July 2021|website=The White House|access-date=10 December 2021}} On September 14, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/09/07/2021/nominations|title=Nominations | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|website=Judiciary.senate.gov|date=14 September 2021 |access-date=10 December 2021}} During the hearing, senators questioned her about her decision to sign a letter regarding Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The letter accused Kavanaugh of being an "intellectually and morally bankrupt ideologue" and claimed that "people will die if he is confirmed".{{cite news|title=Law students, alumni condemn Kavanaugh in open letter|first1=Adelaide|last1=Feibel|first2=Hailey|last2=Fuchs|date=10 July 2018|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/07/10/law-students-criticize-kavanaugh-in-open-letter/}} Sung said she recognized that much of the letter's rhetoric "was overheated," but she did not disavow the letter or say "whether she thought Kavanaugh was indeed 'intellectually and morally bankrupt.'"{{Cite web|title=Circuit Pick Apologizes Over Kavanaugh Opposition Letter (1)|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/circuit-pick-apologizes-for-signing-kavanaugh-opposition-letter|access-date=2021-09-14|website=Bloomberg Law|language=en|author-first1=Madison|author-last1=Alder|date=14 September 2021}}{{cite news|last1=Bendery|first1=Jennifer|title=Biden Court Pick Won't Say If Brett Kavanaugh Is 'Morally Bankrupt'|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-morally-bankrupt-jennifer-sung_n_6140c0e2e4b0628d09612b70|access-date=28 September 2021|work=HuffPost|date=14 September 2021|language=en}}{{cite news|last1=Cassens Weiss|first1=Debra|title=9th Circuit nominee is grilled over statement calling Kavanaugh 'intellectually and morally bankrupt'|url=https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/9th-circuit-nominee-is-grilled-over-statement-calling-kavanaugh-intellectually-and-morally-bankrupt|access-date=28 September 2021|work=ABA Journal|date=September 15, 2021|language=en}} On October 21, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to report her nomination by a 10–10 vote.{{Cite web|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting – October 21, 2021|date=October 21, 2021|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Results%20of%20Executive%20Business%20Meeting%20-%20October%2021,%202021.pdf|access-date=November 19, 2022}}{{cite news|last1=Raymond|first1=Nate|title=U.S. Senate panel advances 2nd Circuit nominee, divides over 9th Circuit pick|url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/us-senate-panel-advances-2nd-circuit-nominee-divides-over-9th-circuit-pick-2021-10-21/|access-date=21 October 2021|work=Reuters|date=21 October 2021}} On November 3, 2021, the United States Senate discharged the committee from further consideration of her nomination by a 49–49 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.{{Cite web|date=November 3, 2021|title=On the Motion to Discharge (Motion to Discharge: Jennifer Sung to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit from the Committee on the Judiciary)|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00462|access-date=November 3, 2021|website=United States Senate}} On December 7, 2021, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on her nomination.{{Cite web |title=PN807 — Jennifer Sung — The Judiciary |url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/807 |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Congress.gov|date=15 December 2021 }} On December 9, 2021, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 48–39 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00493|title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Jennifer Sung to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit)|date=December 9, 2021|website=United States Senate|access-date=December 15, 2021}} On December 15, 2021, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–49 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00500|title=On the Nomination (Confirmation: Jennifer Sung, of Oregon, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit)|date=December 15, 2021|website=United States Senate|access-date=December 15, 2021}} She received her judicial commission on December 20, 2021.{{FJC Bio|nid=11201336|inline=yes}} Sung is Oregon's first Asian Pacific American to serve on the Ninth Circuit.{{Cite web|date=December 20, 2021|title=Senate sends Biden judges to California courts as year closes. Will more follow in 2022?|url=https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article256630236.html|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=The Sacramento Bee}}

= Notable rulings =

On September 26, 2022, Sung dissented on an en banc panel in a 8–3 decision that held that California AB 32, a law that banned private, for-profit prison and immigration detention centers within the state, was unconstitutional.{{cite web |last1=Pazanowski |first1=Bernie |title=California Ban on Private Prisons in State Held Unconstitutional |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/california-ban-on-private-prisons-in-state-held-unconstitutional |website=Bloomberg Law |date=September 26, 2022}}

Sung joined a unanimous decision of a three-judge panel, ruling that the Trump administration could deploy the National Guard to curb riots in Los Angeles, in spite of the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/us/california-national-guard-trump.html |title=Appeals Court Lets Trump Keep Control of California National Guard in L.A. |work=The New York Times |last1=Savage |first1=Charlie |last2=Rosenhall |first2=Laurel }}