80-20 “MAD AS HELL” but wrong?

When 80-20 said, "When compared with other
Americans in the legal profession, an AsAm has 1/6 the chance to
be appointed a Federal judge," even some 80-20 supporters
couldn't believe it!

"A 6 to 1 disparity? I don't believe it ," some reacted. Here are
two such emails. They questioned:

"But is that because we are being unfairly treated
or because Asians do not choose the legal profession as
much as other professions such as engineering and medicine?"
W. Cheng

"I find this very curious … How do Asian Americans compare to
other Americans and other races when equalizing for law school
graduates or for lower court judges? ... " xxx Kagawa

The truth is that AsAms are treated even worse, when the above
mentioned factors are taken into consideration.

Here are the detailed accounts of these statistics,
and their sources. The info. was provided by Federal
District Judge Denny Chin of New York:

"Mr. Woo: I wanted to share some information with you. You may
know most of this, but you probably don't have the details.

There currently are only six active Asian-American Article III
federal judges in the country. All are trial judges, and there are
no active Asian-American judges in the federal appellate courts.
(Judge Tashima in the Ninth Circuit is on senior status.) Unless
there are new appointments, when Judge Ron Lew takes senior status
later this year, we will be down to five Asian-American Article III
judges. When I was appointed in 1994, I was the only Asian-American
Article III judge outside the Ninth Circuit. Today, eleven years
later, I am still the only one outside the Ninth Circuit.

Other minority groups fair much better. The most recent available
statistics show that, as of September 30, 2004, for Article III
federal judges, 0.7% were Asian (6), 10.7% were African-American
(88), and 6.5% were Hispanic (54). These numbers are for active
judges and do not include judges on senior status. (See Adm. Office
of U.S. Courts, Judiciary Fair Employment Practices, Annual Report
10/1/03-9/30/04, at 35).

Hence there are some 15 times as many African-American federal
judges and almost 10 times as many Hispanic federal judges as there
are Asian-American federal judges.

In contrast, there are more Asian-American "legal professionals" at
law firms of 100 or more employees, as of 2002, than there are
African-American or Hispanic professionals. This is drawn from a
2003 EEOC report :
http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/reports/diversitylaw/index.html. The
numbers are: 5.3% Asian-American, 4.4% African American, and 2.9%
Hispanic. In this context, "legal professionals" are predominantly
lawyers but include other professional employees, such as non-
lawyer accountants.

In addition, the 2000 Census shows that for lawyers, 2.3% were
Asians, 3.9% were African-American, and 3.3% were Hispanic. See
http://www.abanet.org/minorities/links/2000census.html .
Of course, these numbers are now five years old, and I would guess
that there are even more Asian lawyers today, on a percentage
basis.

The numbers are appalling -- there are a grossly disproportion-
ately low number of Asian-American Article III federal judges.

So the efforts of you and your group in this respect are most
welcome.

DC (DC stands for Denny Chin)"

Are you mad as hell? Are you convinced that AsAms
must build our own GROUP political clout?

Join 80-80. Using a credit card,

http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html (easy to use) or
http://www.80-20initiative.net/paypal.html
PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu Director of Projects
P.O. Box 527340 Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & PHONE no. on the BACK of the
check. Life membership is $1,000; Family (2 voters) is $50; Basic
Membership is $35; Student membership is $15.

Exciting/Maddening/Fighting News

(A) Good & Maddening News:

4 of the only 6 Asian Am. Federal Judges in the nation attended
80-20's "Gathering of AsAm Legal Eagles" Luncheon in Los
Angeles. See a great photo of the jurists, each holding an eagle
plaque via http://www.80-20initiative.net/legaleagles.html .

The remaining two Federal judges wrote to express strong support
of 80-20's effort to increase AsAm representation at all levels of
the Federal courts, including the Supreme Court. Anthony Ching*
and Dale Minami** respectively attended and wrote to show strong
support for 80-20's effort.

Maddening News: There are about 260 million Americans for which
there are 875 Federal judges i.e. 3 federal judges for every million
Americans. For the AsAms? 6 judges for 13 million AsAms or half
a judge for every 1 million.

In other words, when compared with other Americans in the legal
profession, an AsAm has 1/6 the chance to be appointed a Federal
judge. We are mad as hell. Are you?

Why send your child to great law schools, if they don't have the
same chance to serve in the Federal judicial system, unless you also
join 80-20 to FIGHT for their equal opportunity?

(B) Ready To Fight News:

80-20's Board met and made the following fighting decisions.

(1) 80-20 will, for the first time, endorse candidates in
congressional races in 2006 in order to help the party that cares
most about Asian Ams win the leadership position in the House &
Senate. 80-20 will spend resources to organize bloc votes where
there are a lot of Asam voters or where there is a tight race. We
want equal opportunity in Federal judicial appointments & in
other workplaces.

(2) Beginning this year, 80-20 will spend resources to take strong
actions to press for the enforcement of Exec. Order 11246.
A very detailed and bold battle plan has been drawn.

80-20 can't fight without resources. In addition, 80-20 is only as
strong as you are. Join 80-20. Does $50 or even $1,000 mean that
much to some of you? Any US citizen or permanent resident can
be a member TODAY using a credit card, visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html (easy to use) or
http://www.80-20initiative.net/paypal.html
PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu Director of Projects
P.O. Box 527340 Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & PHONE no. on the BACK of the
check. Life membership is $1,000; Family (2 voters) is $50; Basic
Membership is $35; Student membership is $15.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
*Ching is the first ever Solicitor General of AZ who argued & won two
cases before the Supreme Court.
**Minami is the famous civil right lawyer who led the successful
effort to overturn Fred Korematsu's conviction for
resisting internment.

Three AsAm Legal Eagles Spoke Out

Three of the 11 invited Asian American Legal Eagles wanted to come
to 80-20's "The Gathering of AsAm Legal Eagles" Luncheon but
could not. So they expressed their support:

1. Dale Minami, who led the successful effort to overturn Fred
Korematsu's conviction for resisting internment, and fought in many
other civil rights cases:

"I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. I have been
desperately trying to change a commitment I have on that day so I
could attend the luncheon but have been unsuccessful and therefore
must respectfully decline your kind invitation. I very much
appreciate what you are doing to influence the selection of Federal
Judges as we are terribly underrepresented and your efforts are
really critical to educating both our own community and the larger
American community about this disparity.

I was most honored by my inclusion on your list and although I
Cannot attend your event, please let people know that I am very
supportive of your efforts to diversify the courts!! Best of luck to
you and Happy New Year!! "

2. Federal District Judge George King, Central District of California

"I am sorry I was out for most of last week, and am just respond-
ing to your emails. First, this is my correct email address, & you can
feel free to contact me at this address. Second, thank you very much
for inviting me to the lunch on February 11, 2006. Unfortunately, I
will not be able to attend because I have already committed to
attending another event on that date. However, I want to let you know
how important I think the work of 80-20 is and that it is wonderful
that dedicated individuals like you are moving ahead to ensure fair
representation by Asian Americans in all segments of our government.
I hope you will stay in touch. "

3. Federal District Judge Denny Chin, Southern District of New
York. We deeply appreciate Judge Chin's providing us with some eye-
opening information, shown below

"I do want to thank you for your initiative on Asian-American
judges. I wanted to share some information with you. You may know
most of this, but you probably don't have the details.

There currently are only six active Asian-American Article III
federal judges in the country. All are trial judges, and there are no
active Asian-Am judges in the federal appellate courts. (Judge Tashima
in the Ninth Circuit is on senior status.) Unless there are new
appointments, when Judge Ron Lew takes senior status later this year,
we will be down to five Asian-American Article III judges. When I was
appointed in 1994, I was the only Asian-American Article III judge
outside the Ninth Circuit. Today, eleven years later, I am still the
only one outside the Ninth Circuit.

Other minority groups fare much better. The most recent available
statistics show that, as of Sept. 30, 2004, for Article III federal
judges, 0.7% were Asian (6), 10.7% were African-American (88),
and 6.5% were Hispanic (54). These numbers are for active judges and
do not include judges on senior status. (See Adm. Office of U.S.
Courts, Judiciary Fair Employment Practices, Annual Report
10/1/03-9/30/04, at 35).

Hence there are some 15 times as many African-American federal
judges and almost 10 times as many Hispanic federal judges as there
are Asian-Am federal judges.

In contrast, there are more Asian-American "legal professionals"
at law firms of 100 or more employees, as of 2002, than there are
African-Am. or Hispanic professionals. This is drawn from a 2003 EEOC
report http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/reports/diversitylaw/index.html ."

Please forward this email to your friends and relatives. Tell them
about 80-20's effort to fight for all AsAms. Here is the information
on our "Gathering Of Asian American Legal Eagle" event, where
5 of the remaining AsAm legal eagles will speak in person.

Date & Time: Feb. 11, Saturday. From noon to 2 p.m.
Place: Catalina Room, Four Points Sheraton LAX Hotel, 9750
Airport Blvd. LA, California.