Holly Thomas
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Assumed office
January 24, 2022
Appointed byJoe Biden
Preceded byWilliam A. Fletcher
Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court
In office
November 29, 2018 – January 24, 2022
Appointed byJerry Brown
Preceded byRobert Dukes
Succeeded byPamela Dansby
Personal details
Born1979 (age 44–45)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic[1]
EducationStanford University (BA)
Yale University (JD)

Holly Aiyisha Thomas (born 1979)[2] is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 2018 to 2022.

Early life and education

Thomas was born in San Diego. She graduated from Stanford University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors. Thomas worked as a client advocate for the San Francisco Bar Association's Volunteer Legal Services Program from 2000 to 2001. She then attended Yale Law School, where she was an essays editor for the Yale Law Journal, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 2004.[2][3]

Career

Thomas served as a law clerk for judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2004 to 2005. From 2005 to 2010, Thomas worked as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she was a Liman Fellow from 2005 to 2006. From 2010 to 2015, she was an appellate attorney in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and from 2015 to 2016, Thomas was a special counsel to the solicitor general of New York. During her tenure as special counsel to the solicitor general of New York, Thomas filed briefs in federal district courts in North Carolina and Texas. The briefs challenged North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, which compelled public facilities containing single-gender washrooms to only allow people of the corresponding sex as listed on their birth certificate to use them.[4] From 2016 to 2018, she served as deputy director of executive programs at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.[3] In November 2018, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Thomas to be a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[1] Her service on the state court terminated once she was elevated to the Ninth Circuit Court.[5]

Federal judicial service

Thomas testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee

On September 8, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Thomas to serve as a United States circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. On September 20, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Thomas to the seat to be vacated by Judge William A. Fletcher, who announced his intent to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor.[6] On October 20, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[7] During her confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her work as a civil rights attorney before becoming a Superior Court judge.[8] On December 2, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to report her nomination by a 11–11 vote.[9] On December 16, 2021, the United States Senate discharged the committee from further consideration of her nomination by a 50–46 vote.[10] On December 17, 2021, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on her nomination.[11] On December 18, 2021, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 42–25 vote.[12] On January 20, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by a 48–40 vote.[13] She received her judicial commission on January 24, 2022.[5] Thomas became the first black woman to serve on the Ninth Circuit from California,[14] as well as the second black woman to ever serve on the Ninth Circuit after Johnnie B. Rawlinson.

On January 27, 2022, following Justice Stephen Breyer's announcement of his intention to retire as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Thomas was mentioned as one of the potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment by President Joe Biden.[15]

Personal life

Thomas' father was a bookkeeper and her mother was a school custodian, neither of whom went to college.[16]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Governor Brown Appoints 12 Superior Court Judges" (Press release). Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. November 29, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "President Biden Names Seventh Round of Judicial Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ↑ "GOP Presses Ninth Circuit Pick on Transgender Bathroom Access".
  5. 1 2 Holly A. Thomas at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  6. ↑ "Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. September 20, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ↑ "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. October 20, 2021.
  8. ↑ Wagner, Rose. "Partisan confirmation vote strands judicial nominee trio".
  9. ↑ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 2, 2021" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  10. ↑ "On the Motion to Discharge (Motion to Discharge Holly A. Thomas to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit from the Committee on the Judiciary)". United States Senate. December 16, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  11. ↑ "PN1169 — Holly A. Thomas — The Judiciary". Congress.gov. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  12. ↑ "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture Holly A. Thomas to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit)". United States Senate. December 18, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  13. ↑ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Holly A. Thomas, of California, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit)". United States Senate. January 20, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  14. ↑ "President Biden Makes Judges Koh And Thomas First Korean-American And African American Female Appeals Court Judges In California". Oakland News Now. September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Who's who among some possible top Supreme Court contenders". AP NEWS. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  16. ↑ "Biden to name three California judges to 9th Circuit vacancies". Los Angeles Daily Journal. September 7, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
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