In Brief

Staff Reports

Schumer Nominates Openly Lesbian Federal Prosecutor For U. S. Judgeship

WASHINGTON -- Assistant U. S. Attorney Pamela Ki Mai Chen, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Section’s Criminal Division U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York was nominated by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer,(D-NY) for an appointment by President Barack Obama to serve on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

“Pamela Chen will be an excellent federal judge. She is an experienced attorney with a long record of public service who possesses the legal excellence, intellect and temperament to be a first-rate judge,” Schumer said. 

“Ms. Chen is a trailblazer in every sense of the word. Her leadership skills, her commitment to justice, and her extensive experience make her an fantastic choice for a position on the Eastern District Court.”

If confirmed, Chen would become only the second female Chinese-American in U.S. history and one of a handful of out lesbians and gay men to receive one of the nearly 900 lifetime appointments to the federal district and appellate courts.
Last year Senator Schumer recommended Alison Nathan, who was nominated by President Obama and confirmed for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Chen is the daughter of Chinese-American immigrants. Her father was born near Shanghai and grew up there, and her mother was born in Changsha, the capital of Sichuan Province. They met in the U.S. at the University of Chicago during the second world war.

Chen received her bachelor's from the University of Michigan and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law School. She then served as an associate for Arnold Porter and Asbill, Junkin, Myers & Buffone, working on a variety of civil litigation matters.
Chen entered public service in 1991, serving for eight years in the U.S. Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney and later Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights division. There, she specialized in the reform of state and local prisons, juvenile detention centers, and residential facilities for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

Moving to New York in 1998 to work in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, she now serves as Chief of the Civil Rights Section’s Criminal Division. She has specialized in the investigation and prosecution of criminal civil rights matters, including human trafficking, and hate crimes.
Chen also provides training to federal law enforcement on human trafficking in the U.S. and abroad.
In 2008, she served as the Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement at New York State’s Division for Human Rights where she expanded her experience in human and civil rights, and supervised division attorneys relating to discrimination in housing, employment, insurance and public benefits; and investigated and pursued administrative matters to address systemic patterns of discrimination.