Holly A. Thomas

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Holly Thomas
Holly A. Thomas.png
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
Personal details
Born
Holly Aiyisha Thomas

1979 (age 42–43)
San Diego, California, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BA)
Yale University (JD)

Holly Aiyisha Thomas (born 1979)[1] is an American attorney and jurist 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 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 2000 and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2004.[2]

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 U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and from 2015 to 2016, Thomas was a special counsel to the solicitor general of New York. From 2016 to 2018, she served as deputy director of Executive Programs at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.[2] In November 2018, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Thomas to be a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[3] Her service on the state court terminated once she was commissioned as a federal judge.

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]

Federal judicial service[]

On September 8, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Thomas to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals 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, upon confirmation of a successor.[5] On October 20, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[6] On December 2, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked on her nomination in a party-line vote, stalling her nomination.[7] On December 16, 2021, the United States Senate voted 50–46 on the motion to discharge her nomination from committee.[8] On January 20, 2022, her nomination was confirmed in the Senate by a 48–40 vote.[9] She received her judicial commission on January 24, 2022.[10] Thomas became the first black woman to serve on the Ninth Circuit from California,[11] 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.[12]

Personal life[]

Thomas' father was a bookkeeper and her mother was a school custodian, neither of whom went to college.[13]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "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.
  3. ^ "Governor Brown Appoints 12 Superior Court Judges" (Press release). Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. November 29, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  4. ^ "GOP Presses Ninth Circuit Pick on Transgender Bathroom Access".
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. October 20, 2021.
  7. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 2, 2021" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  8. ^ "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)". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate. December 16, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ "Thomas, Holly Aiyisha". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved January 25, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ "Who's who among some possible top Supreme Court contenders". AP NEWS. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  13. ^ "Biden to name three California judges to 9th Circuit vacancies". Los Angeles Daily Journal. September 7, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.

External links[]

Legal offices
Preceded by
William A. Fletcher
 Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
2022–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""