Latina Judicial Trailblazer Elevated to Largest Appellate Court

Ana de Alba has been elevated to the nation’s largest appellate court a little over a year after becoming the first Hispanic female trial judge in her California district.

De Alba, the daughter of farm workers who immigrated from Mexico, was confirmed on Monday, 48-43, to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

De Alba replaces Paul Watford, an Obama appointee who surprisingly resigned from the bench after 11 years to return to private practice. He’s with Wilson Sonsini’s litigation department.

“Judge de Alba is exceptionally well suited for appellate work,” wrote three judges she served with on the Superior Court of California. “She excels at research and writing, carefully and meticulously prepares for matters before her and approaches cases and issues with an open mind.”

Earning undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, de Alba worked in between as a law firm receptionist.

She spent most of her career as a litigator at Lang, Richert & Patch in Fresno where she concentrated on employment, personal injury, business, and construction cases.

De Alba rose to partner before being appointed to fill out a superior court term in 2018, handling an adult misdemeanor docket and juvenile cases. She was elected to the state court seat in 2020 before being nominated by President Joe Biden to the federal trial bench.

De Alba the latest in a line of Biden judicial nominees touted for their gender, racial or ethnic diversity, and lived and professional experience not always associated with appointment to the federal bench.

For instance, de Alba established a workers’ rights clinic while in private practice, motivated to do so by her family’s struggles relating to their time as field workers when she was young.

“It was that kind of experience that I had that led me to figure out a way just if we could give people information,” she told senators. “The clinic didn’t take cases, the clinic didn’t represent individuals. It just gave them information to know what their legal rights were.”

GOP Questions

De Alba was confirmed with bipartisan support in June 2022 to the US District Court for the Eastern District of California, which she said is one of the nation’s busiest.

Republicans pressed de Alba at her confirmation hearing on sentencing in a child pornography case that fell below what federal prosecutors recommended, and her decision to release from home monitoring a defendant, an undocumented immigrant, in a matter tied to the killing of a police officer.

Working to boost her nomination, Democrats highlighted other sentencing decisions that would counter Republican criticism suggesting she’s not tough on crime. Democrats also touted her experience as a civil litigator as well as endorsements from state court judges and law enforcement.

De Alba said she doesn’t “rubber stamp” what parties want in sentencing, and sought to assure skeptical Republican senators that she would continue to assess each case individually.

“The type of judge that I will be, is the type of judge that I have been. I have been fair,” de Alba said in responding to GOP suggestions that she’s too liberal. “I do apply the law to the facts and I adhere to all binding precedent.”

The American Bar Association rated de Alba qualified for the Ninth Circuit, one notch down from its highest rating.