Atsushi Wallace Tashima (, born June 24, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He is the third Asian American and first Japanese American to be appointed to a United States Court of Appeals.

Early life

Atsushi Wallace Tashima was born in 1934 in Santa Maria, California, to Yasutaro and Aya Tashima. He is Nisei Japanese American. During World War II he was interned at the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona, an internment camp for Japanese Americans. After the war his family moved to Southern California. He lived in Boyle Heights, graduating from Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles. From 1953 to 1956, Tashima served in the United States Marine Corps, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1958, and a Bachelor of Laws from the Harvard Law School in 1961.

Career

Upon graduation from law school, from 1962 to 1968, Tashima became the Deputy State Attorney General for the State of California. He then joined the Amstar Corporation as an attorney in its Spreckels Sugar Division (1968–1972) and then as the general attorney and vice president of Amstar from 1972 to 1977. Tashima returned to private practice in 1977, as a partner at Morrison & Foerster, in Los Angeles.

Federal judicial service

Tashima was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on May 9, 1980, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central District of California vacated by Judge Warren J. Ferguson. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 26, 1980, and received commission on June 30, 1980. His service terminated on January 8, 1996, due to elevation to the Ninth Circuit. Tashima was nominated by President Bill Clinton on April 6, 1995, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated by Judge Arthur Alarcón. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 2, 1996, and received commission on January 4, 1996. He assumed senior status on June 30, 2004.

Notable cases

Personal life

Tashima is married and has three children and three grandchildren. He resides in Los Angeles. He is the father of Academy Award-winning filmmaker and actor Chris Tashima.

Awards

Sources