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Kenneth K. Lee

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Kenneth K. Lee
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office
June 12, 2019
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byStephen Reinhardt
Personal details
Born
Lee Kiyul

(1975-08-30) August 30, 1975 (age 49)
Seoul, South Korea
EducationCornell University (BA)
Harvard University (JD)
Korean name
Hangul
이기열
Hanja
Revised RomanizationI Gi Yeol
McCune–ReischauerI Ki Yŏl

Kenneth Kiyul Lee (Korean: 이기열;[1] born August 30, 1975)[2] is a South Korean-born American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Early life and education

Lee was born in 1975 in Seoul, South Korea. Lee's family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old, following the 1979 military coup in South Korea.[3] Lee grew up in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles.[4] His father operated a spray paint equipment repair shop, and his mother was a pharmacist and acupuncturist; neither spoke English, so they insisted that he understand the language and did not allow him to attend a Korean church.[4]

After high school, Lee studied government at Cornell University, where he wrote for the conservative and libertarian campus newspaper The Cornell Review.[3] He graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Lee then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 2000 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude.[5][6][7]

After graduating from law school, Lee served as a law clerk to Judge Emilio M. Garza of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 2000 to 2001.[7] Lee then worked as an associate at New York City law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz from 2001 to 2006.[4][7] At Wachtell, following the September 11 attacks, Lee served as second chair, deposed witnesses, and wrote briefs as part of the legal team representing real estate mogul Larry Silverstein, whose 99-year lease of the World Trade Center provided a $3.5 billion insurance policy for an act of terrorism. The court ruled that the separate plane crashes in the World Trade Center represented 1.4 occurrences of terrorism.[4]

In 2005, Lee served as a special counsel on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. From 2006 to 2009, Lee was Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush.[7] After Bush left office in 2009, Lee joined the Los Angeles office of the law firm Jenner & Block as a partner.[6] From 2010 to 2011, Lee served as an adjunct faculty member at Pepperdine University School of Law.[7]

Lee has litigated consumer class action lawsuits across the U.S. in the food, technology, and health care sectors. He has argued appeals before a number of federal circuit courts. In his pro bono practice, Lee has represented a number of indigent and incarcerated individuals. He is a member of the Food Law Committee of the Litigation Section of the State Bar of California.[8] In 2018, Lee was named one of the "Most Influential Minority Attorneys" by the Los Angeles Business Journal.[9]

Federal judicial service

Lee at his confirmation hearing on March 13, 2019

On October 10, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Lee to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[6] Both California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris announced their opposition to his nomination.[10] On November 13, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Lee to the seat vacated by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who died on March 29, 2018.[11]

On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.

On January 30, 2019, President Trump indicated that he would renominate Lee to a Ninth Circuit vacancy.[12] On February 6, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate.[13] On March 13, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[14] During the hearing, he was questioned about college writings covering AIDS, political correctness, and feminism. He apologized for some of the writings, saying he regretted them and was embarrassed by them.[15] The Wall Street Journal editorial board responded to the questioning about Lee's college writings: "...what Mr. Lee wrote in college is of no relevance to how he’d behave as a jurist. ... What liberals really don’t like is that Mr. Lee dissented from progressive doctrines on racial preferences, among other issues."[16]

On April 4, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[17] On May 14, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–45 vote.[18] On May 15, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a 52–45 vote.[19] He received his judicial commission on June 12, 2019.[20] Lee is the nation's first Article III judge who was born in the Republic of Korea and the second Korean American to serve on the Ninth Circuit.[21][22]

In August 2020, Lee was part of a three-judge panel who held that California's "large capacity magazine ban" was unconstitutional.[23][24]

In 2022, Lee was part of a three judge panel that decided the appeal of the denial of disability benefits to a Mr. Alves. [25]. In a memorandum decision, a decision whose specific author is not revealed, the panel held that Mr. Alves, who could not sit for more than 4 hours in an 8 hour workday, was not disabled. The panel wrote, “We reject Alves’s argument that [the denial] decision is undercut by Dr. Stephen Broomes’s conclusion that Alves was limited to sitting continuously for 30 minutes per hour” because the diagnoses would not “preclude Alves from performing sedentary work.” [26] No authority for this position was cited and, in fact, the law of the 9th Circuit is to the contrary. “[T]he 'consistent' interpretation of 'ERISA law' [is] that an individual is unable to perform 'any occupation' under a disability policy if that individual 'cannot sit for more than four hours in an eight-hour workday.'" [27]. More than 4 hours of sitting ability in an 8 hour workday is required for a sedentary job. [28] Judge Lee has a history of always denying ERISA disability benefits for no articulated reason. He has been on a 3 judge panel for 6 ERISA benefit cases. Five affirmed district court decisions to deny ERISA benefits and one reversed a decision to grant benefits.3 All 6 decisions are memorandum decisions (unreasoned and unsigned). [29]

Memberships

Lee is listed as an expert for the Federalist Society and has been a speaker and panelist on the topics of Food & Drug Law, Class Action lawsuits, and the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "美 연방항소법원에 또 한인판사". Korea Times (in Korean). May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  2. ^ Voruganti, Harsh (May 15, 2019). "Kenneth Lee – Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit". The Vetting Room. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Severino, Carrie Campbell (March 4, 2019). "Smears Against Judicial Nominees Continue". National Review. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Mullich, Joe (2015). "A quintessential American story" (PDF). Super Lawyers Magazine. Retrieved May 27, 2020 – via Jenner & Block.
  5. ^ "Kenneth K. Lee – Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b c "President Donald J. Trump Announces Eighteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees, Eighteenth Wave of United States Attorney Nominees, and Thirteenth Wave of United States Marshal Nominees". whitehouse.gov. October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018 – via National Archives. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Lee, Kenneth Kiyul". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved May 27, 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ^ a b Severino, Carrie Campbell (October 10, 2018). "Who is Ken Lee?". National Review. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  9. ^ "Most Influential Minority Attorneys: Kenneth K. Lee". Los Angeles Business Journal. January 25, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  10. ^ Wire, Sarah D. (October 11, 2018). "California senators will try to block White House judicial nominees for the 9th Circuit - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  11. ^ "Twenty Six Nominations Sent to the Senate", White House, November 13, 2018
  12. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees". whitehouse.gov. January 30, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2019 – via National Archives.
  13. ^ "Twelve Nominations Sent to the Senate", The White House, February 6, 2019
  14. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Nominations for March 13, 2019
  15. ^ Levine, Marianne (March 13, 2019). "Trump judicial pick expresses regret for college writings". Politico. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  16. ^ "Kenneth Kiyul Lee's White Privilege". The Wall Street Journal. March 4, 2019. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Results of Executive Business Meeting – April 4, 2019, Senate Judiciary Committee
  18. ^ On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Kenneth Kiyul Lee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit), United States Senate, May 14, 2019
  19. ^ On the Nomination (Confirmation Kenneth Kiyul Lee, of California, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit), United States Senate, May 15, 2019
  20. ^ Kenneth K. Lee at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  21. ^ Tae-hee, Lee (December 11, 2018). "Korean-American judges gaining presence in US". The Korea Herald. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  22. ^ "Senate Confirms L.A. Attorney Kenneth Kiyul Lee to Seat on Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals", United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, May 15, 2019
  23. ^ Romo, Vanessa (August 14, 2020). "Federal Appeals Court Throws Out California Ban On Large-Capacity Gun Magazines". NPR.org. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  24. ^ "Federal court throws out California's ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines". USA TODAY. Associated Press. August 14, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  25. ^ Alves v. Hewlett-Packard, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 6214 (9th Cir. 2022)
  26. ^ Alves v. Hewlett-Packard, 2022 U.S.App. LEXIS 6214, at *2.
  27. ^ McCool v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 842 F. App'x 164, 164 (9th Cir. 2021).
  28. ^ Vertigan v. Halter 260 F.3d 1044, 1052 (9th Cir. 2001); Aukland v. Massanari, 257 F.3d 1033, 1035-36 (9th Cir. 2001); Armani v. Northwestern, 840 F.3d 1159 (9thCir. 2016); Cruz-Baca v. Edison Int'l Long Term Disability Plan, 708 Fed. Appx. 313 (9th Cir. 2017); Wagenstein v. Cigna Life Ins. Co., 789 Fed. Appx. 591 (9th Cir. 2020); McCool v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 842 Fed. Appx. 164 (9th Cir. 2021); Rios v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 38138 (9th Cir., Dec 27. 2021).
  29. ^ Demko v. UNUM, 780 F.App'x 537 (9th Cir. 2019); Sides v. Cisco, 2021 U.S.App LEXIS 35734 (9th Cir. 2021); Alves v. Hewlett-Packard, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 6214 (9th Cir. 2022); Goodman v. Motion Picture Indus. Health Plan, 856 F.App'x 136 (9th Cir. 2021); Odd v. Delta Air Lines, 809 F.App'x 402 (9th Cir. 2020); Estate of Maurrice v. LINA, 792 F.App'x 499 (9th Cir. 2020).
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
2019–present 		Incumbent
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