President Joe Biden has nominated Jasmine H. Yoon, a Korean-American and the Vice President of Corporate Integrity, Ethics, and Investigations at Capital One Financial Corporation, to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Virginia.
Yoon, who earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2006, served in various roles including Interim University Counsel and Associate University Counsel at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville from 2019 to 2022. Most recently, she held the position of Vice President of Corporate Integrity, Ethics, and Investigations at Capital One.
If confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Yoon will become the first non-white judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, and the first Asian judge in the entire U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Despite a growing Asian-American population in Virginia, the Western District of Virginia’s federal courts have been overseen exclusively by white male judges, except for one white female judge.
The White House stated that Yoon, one of the first six federal judicial nominees, is “extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.”
Yoon’s husband, Christopher R. Kavanaugh, is also an attorney. Kavanaugh serves as a chief federal law enforcement officer in the Western District of Virginia.
BY BRIAN CHOI, JUNHAN PARK [ichoi@koreadaily.com]
