Confirmation of Tana Lin

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to commend the confirmation of Tana Lin--a trailblazing civil rights lawyer and former public defender--to serve as U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Washington in the Seattle courthouse.

Ms. Lin has led a tremendous career fighting for civil and human rights, and I am very proud to have recommended her to President Biden.

There are many reasons to be excited about Tana Lin's confirmation. One of them that is extremely important to me is she will be the first- ever public defender serving as U.S. District Court judge in Washington State, and that really matters.

It matters when we put a former public defender and civil rights lawyer on the Federal bench. It matters quite a bit, I think, when a Federal judge has represented clients who couldn't afford to hire their own lawyer. It matters that Ms. Lin has represented Washington State farmworkers dealing with wage theft. It matters that Ms. Lin stood up for refugees and immigrants against unconstitutional Executive actions, and that she had successfully challenged discriminatory hiring practices, and has a long career of standing shoulder to shoulder with working people at every turn in her career.

Ms. Lin's legal qualifications are excellent. She graduated from Cornell University and New York University School of Law, working multiple jobs during both college and law school. She began her career as a public defender in the District of Columbia. She went on to work at the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, and later the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She spent multiple years at the Michigan Poverty Law Program until she finally moved to Seattle.

In Washington State, Ms. Lin currently serves as president of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, and also works in private practice where she fights for the rights of employees and consumers.

She is deeply involved in our local community, mentoring the next generation of lawyers and dedicating her time to a range of pro bono projects in the region.

Ms. Lin's legal experience is unquestionable, but I also believe it is important that judges who sit on our Federal bench are reflective of the communities that they serve.

Our State is home to more than 1 million immigrants and nearly 1 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Ms. Lin, who emigrated here with her family from Taiwan at the age of 3, will proudly serve as Washington State's first-ever Asian-American judge to sit on the Federal bench. That is a big deal.

Ms. Lin will bring integrity, independence, and compassion to the Seattle courthouse. Americans deserve a justice system that will uphold the rights of everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected. Let's build a more fair court system and let's do that by appointing more public defenders and more civil rights lawyers like Ms. Lin as Federal judges.

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