The Third Korean-American Federal Appellate Judge Emerges

Biden Nominates Judge John Lee

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Jong-min] John Lee (Korean name: Lee Ji-hoon), the third Korean American and the first 1.5-generation Korean American to be appointed as a lifetime federal judge in the United States, serving as a judge at the Chicago Federal District Court (age 54, photo), has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a judge on the federal Court of Appeals.

According to the White House on the 13th (local time), President Biden announced five new federal judicial nominees. The White House introduced Judge Lee as "the first Asian American to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals."

It has been 10 years since Judge Lee was appointed to the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago Federal District Court). The federal Court of Appeals is also known as the federal appellate court.

President Biden has nominated a Korean American to the federal Court of Appeals for the second time since taking office. Previously, Judge Lucy Koh (Korean name: Go Hye-ran), age 53, was nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, confirmed by the Senate, and took office. If Judge Lee is confirmed, he will become the third Korean American appellate judge in U.S. history, following Judge Herbert Choi (Korean name: Choi Young-jo, 1916?2004) of the Ninth Circuit and Judge Go.

Judge Lee was born in Germany as the eldest son among three sons of Lee Seon-gu, a miner dispatched to Germany during the Park Chung-hee regime in the 1960s, and nurse Lee Hwa-ja. His family immigrated to Chicago in the early 1970s when he was five years old and settled in a northwestern suburb of Chicago.

Currently residing in a suburb of Chicago, Judge Lee has one son and one daughter with his physician wife. He spent his elementary, middle, and high school years in Chicago and attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School.

He worked at major Chicago law firms such as Mayer Brown and Gripo & Elden, and then at Freeborn & Peters, specializing in commercial litigation related to antitrust, trade regulation, and intellectual property (IP), before being appointed as a federal judge during the Barack Obama administration.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, located in Chicago, handles cases from seven district courts across Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett served as a judge on the Seventh Circuit before being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Among the five nominees announced by President Biden on this day, four were people of color, including Asian, Hispanic, and Black candidates. U.S. media have evaluated this as a move toward racial diversity in the judiciary.