Jinsook Ohta

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Jinsook Ohta

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Jinsook_Ohta.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Ohta in 2023

| office = Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California

| term_start = December 27, 2021

| term_end =

| appointer = Joe Biden

| predecessor = Barry Ted Moskowitz

| successor =

| office1 = Judge of the San Diego County Superior Court

| term_start1 = December 8, 2020

| term_end1 = December 27, 2021

| appointer1 = Gavin Newsom

| predecessor1 = Lantz Lewis

| successor1 = Rebecca S. Kanter

| pronunciation =

| birth_name = Jin Sook Lee (이진숙)

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1976}}

| birth_place = Seoul, South Korea

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Democratic

| education = Yale University (BA)
New York University (JD)

| footnotes =

}}

Jinsook Ohta (née Jin Sook Lee (이진숙), born 1976){{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Ohta%20SJQ%20Public%20Final.pdf|title=Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|accessdate=November 2, 2021}} is an American attorney and United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. She previously served as a judge on the San Diego County Superior Court.

Education

Ohta received her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University in 1998 and her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 2001.[https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/30/president-biden-names-eighth-round-of-judicial-nominees/ "President Biden Names Eighth Round of Judicial Nominees", White House, September 30, 2021] {{PD-notice}}

Career

Ohta served as a law clerk for Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2008. From 2002 to 2003, she was an associate with O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles from and from 2003 to 2006, she was an associate with Sheppard Mullin in San Diego. From 2006 to 2007, she was an assistant professor of law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law.{{Cite web |last=Yamamoto |first=J. K. |date=2020-12-22 |title=Newsom Appoints Superior Court Judges |url=http://rafu.com/2020/12/newsom-appoints-superior-court-judges/ |access-date=2021-09-30 |website=Rafu Shimpo |language=en-US |archive-date=2021-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116214455/https://www.rafu.com/2020/12/newsom-appoints-superior-court-judges/ |url-status=live }} From 2011 to 2021, Ohta worked in the consumer protection section of the California Attorney General's office, first as deputy attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and then as a supervising deputy attorney general from 2019 to 2020. On December 8, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Ohta to be a judge of the San Diego County Superior Court.

Federal judicial service

File:Judge_Jinsook_Ohta.png

On September 30, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Ohta to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. President Biden nominated Ohta to the seat vacated by Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz, who assumed senior status on January 23, 2019.{{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 November 3, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{Cite web |title=Nominations |date=October 27, 2021 |publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/10/27/2021/nominations}} During her confirmation hearing, she was questioned by three Republican senators over a statement she had endorsed which referred to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding religious or moral exemptions to a contraception mandate as a "devastating blow to women's reproductive justice."{{Cite news|date=November 3, 2021|last=Wagner|first=Rose|title=GOP works to trip judicial nominees on road to confirmation with focus on activist pasts|url=https://www.courthousenews.com/gop-works-to-trip-judicial-nominees-on-road-to-confirmation-with-focus-on-activist-pasts/|website=Courthouse News|access-date=July 7, 2023}} On December 2, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Results%20of%20Executive%20Business%20Meeting%2012.2.21.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 2, 2021|publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|accessdate=December 3, 2021}} On December 17, 2021, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 47–25 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1171/vote_117_1_00510.htm|title= On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Jinsook Ohta to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of California) |date=December 17, 2021|website=United States Senate|access-date=December 17, 2021}} Her nomination was confirmed later that day by a 47–24 vote.{{Cite web|url= https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1171/vote_117_1_00511.htm|title=On the Nomination (Confirmation: Jinsook Ohta, of California, to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of California)|date=December 17, 2021|website=United States Senate|access-date=December 17, 2021}} She received her commission on December 27, 2021.{{FJC Bio|nid=11225621|inline=yes}} Ohta is the first Asian Pacific American female judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.{{Cite web |last=Diamond |first=Jeremy |date=September 30, 2021 |title=Biden nominates 10 more to federal bench, with continued focus on diversity |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/politics/federal-judicial-nominees-joe-biden/index.html |access-date=September 30, 2021 |website=CNN |archive-date=September 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930170402/https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/politics/federal-judicial-nominees-joe-biden/index.html |url-status=live }}