Susan Oki Mollway
Susan Oki Mollway | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii | |
| Assumed office November 6, 2015 | |
| Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii | |
| In office June 16, 2009 – November 6, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Helen Gillmor |
| Succeeded by | John Michael Seabright |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii | |
| In office August 4, 1998 – November 6, 2015 | |
| Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Harold Fong |
| Succeeded by | Jill Otake |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Susan Oki November 6, 1950 Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii |
| Spouse(s) | Daniel J. Mollway |
| Education | University of Hawaii (B.A., M.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
Susan Oki Mollway (born November 6, 1950) is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and the first Asian woman ever appointed to the federal bench.[1]
Early life and education[]
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Susan Oki earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Hawaii in 1971 and a Master of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Hawaii in 1973.[2] She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1981,[2] where she was the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review[3] In 2020, Molloway received her LLM in judicial studies from Duke Law School.[4]
Personal[]
She and her husband, Daniel have a son.[5][6][7]
Professional career[]
Mollway taught English and worked at an English-language publisher in Tokyo from 1975-77.[8] After law school, she worked in private legal practice at Cades Schutte Fleming & Wright in Honolulu from 1981 until 1998, when she joined the federal bench. She became a partner at that law firm in 1986.[2][9] She served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law from 1988-89.[8]
Mollway has received a number of awards, including:
- 1987 Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year Award, Hawaii Women Lawyers Association;[9]
- 1998 Trailblazer Award, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association;[10]
- 1999 Edith House Lecturer, University of Georgia School of Law;[11]
- 2000 Heroes 2000, Harvard Asian American Intercollegiate Conference;[9]
- 2004 Outstanding Judicial Achievement Award, Hawaii Women Lawyers;[9]
- 2005 Distinguished Service Award, Asian American Justice Center.[12]
Federal judicial service[]
Mollway was first nominated in December 1995 by President Bill Clinton to serve on the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii to fill the vacancy created by the 1995 death of Judge Harold Michael Fong.[13] After her nomination lapsed without action by the United States Senate, she was renominated on January 7, 1997, to the same seat. She was confirmed by the Senate on June 22, 1998, and received commission on June 23, 1998. She served as Chief Judge from 2009 to 2015. She assumed senior status on November 6, 2015.[14][15]
Judge Mollway served on the 9th Circuit Pacific Islands Committee and the 9th Circuit Circuit Conference Executive Committee.[16][17] Judge Mollway is currently the chairperson of the 9th Circuit Jury Instructions Committee.[18] Judge Mollway helped to oversee the $121-million renovation of the federal district court facilities in Honolulu[19] and worked on creating a Re-Entry program in the United States District Court, District of Hawaii.[20]
Notable cases[]
In 2014, Mollway ruled in favor of environmental groups when they sued the County of Maui for discharging groundwater pollution without a permit. The Supreme Court affirmed Mollway in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund.[21][22]
See also[]
- List of Asian American jurists
- List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii
- List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
References[]
- ^ "Seeking APA Judges - Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area". aaba-bay.com. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "BloombergBusiness". Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ^ "Redirecting..." heinonline.org. Retrieved 2015-12-01. Cite uses generic title (help)
- ^ https://judicialstudies.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2018-MJS-Bios-Photos.pdf
- ^ Matsuda, Mari J. (1992). Called from Within. ISBN 9780824814489.
- ^ "State ethics enforcer remains undaunted". The Honolulu Advertiser. July 7, 2003.
- ^ "IMDB trivia". Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Just The Beginning".
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "U.S. District Court for District of Hawaii biodata" (PDF). Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ^ "DANIEL K INOUYE TRAILBLAZERS PAST RECIPIENTS - National Asian Pacific American Bar Association". napaba.org. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ "The Edith House Lecture Series". law.uga.edu. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ "Past Recipients of the Distinguished Service Award". advancingjustice-aajc.org. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ "Honolulu Star-Bulletin Local News". archives.starbulletin.com. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ "Mollway, Susan Oki - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
- ^ "U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii Press Release" (PDF). Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ^ Wasby, Stephen (September 2015). "Judging and Administration for Far-Off Places: Trial, Appellate, and Committee Work in the South Pacific". Golden Gate University Law Review. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
- ^ "Organizers: 2014 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference". ca9.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20161227074638/http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/publications/AnnualReport2013.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2017. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ^ "U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii Press Release" (PDF). December 22, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ^ "7 former inmates find hope in new program - Honolulu Star-Advertiser". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
- ^ https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2018/02/01/15-17447.pdf
- ^ https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-260_jifl.pdf
Sources[]
- Susan Oki Mollway at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
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- 1950 births
- Living people
- People from Honolulu
- University of Hawaiʻi alumni
- Harvard Law School alumni
- American women lawyers
- American women judges
- American jurists of Japanese descent
- Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
- United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
- 20th-century American judges
- 21st-century American judges
- 20th-century women judges
- 21st-century women judges
- 21st-century American women