Madoff Sentencing Judge to Get Nomination for 2nd Circuit Vacancy
The Manhattan judge who sentenced convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison is expected to be nominated to fill a vacancy on the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin would be the only active Asian-American judge on a federal appeals court if he is nominated and confirmed, the New York Times reports. The only other Asian-American appeals judge, A. Wallace Tashima of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has taken senior status.
The office of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Chin would be nominated to the position. Chin is currently presiding over a controversial settlement giving Google the right to sell millions of out-of-print books in digital form, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Currently 13 percent of all federal judges are minorities and 18 percent are women, according to statistics published in late August. Obama has nominated three other Asian-Americans to federal judgeships.
