US President Joe Biden Nominates Ghanaian As US District Court Judge

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has nominated a daughter of Ghanaian immigrants in the United States, Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, to serve as a judge on the US district court for the Central District of California.

She is part of eight new candidates for the federal bench announced by President Biden, who is willing to offer opportunities to “all of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.”

Her nomination to the bench is pursuant to President Biden’s promise to ensure that the US courts reflect the diversity “that is one of our greatest assets as a country – both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.”

Ms Frimpong was born in the United States to Ghanaian parents domiciled in the US. They are Prof Kwaku Ewusi-Mensah, a professor of computer information systems at Loyola Marymount University and Theodora Ewusi-Mensah, a paediatrician.

When confirmed, Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, a product of Harvard and Yale, would hold a seat on the district court for the Central District of California, a lifetime appointment in the upper echelons of the US judiciary.

The former Ghanaian High School teacher would also become the only black woman serving in any of California’s four federal district courts and one of only eight across the whole of the United States.

District court appointments

President Biden has made the most district court appointments in recent US history, five in total, as of September 1, 2021.

Presidents Reagan, Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush made two each, the second-highest number out of all the president’s understudy for this period, while President Donald Trump made one appointment during his tenure.

About Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong

Maame received her undergraduate degree in History from Harvard University in 1997 and worked as a high school teacher in Ghana before graduating in 2001 at Yale Law School.

She has served as a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2016.  From 2015 to 2016, she served as Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

From 2007 to 2015, Judge Frimpong worked for the US Department of Justice, serving in various positions, including as Counsellor to the Attorney General, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, and other positions.

Before joining the Department of Justice, she worked as an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco from 2002 to 2007. She also served as a law clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2001 to 2002.

source: theghanareport.com