Du, Miranda, 1969-
Miranda Mai Du (born 1969) is an American judge. Du was nominated by President Barack Obama to the United States District Court for the District of Nevada in 2011, and confirmed by the Senate in 2012. As a district judge, Du has presided over a number of noteworthy cases, including a number regarding voting rights. She has been chief judge of the court since 2019.
Du was born in Cà Mau, Vietnam, in 1969. During the Vietnam War, her father had been a supporter of the U.S.-backed Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and the family left to seek asylum in Malaysia when Du was nine years old, fleeing the country by boat. Du's family spent nearly a year in Malaysian refugee camps before ultimately being granted asylum in the United States, being sponsored by a family in Winfield, Alabama.] Growing up, Du and her family lived in a number of places across the United States, including Winfield, Alabama, where her father worked on a dairy farm. The family also lived at various times in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Seattle, Washington; and Oakland, California. Du participated in Upward Bound in high school.
Du received a Bachelor of Arts from University of California, Davis in 1991, graduating with honors in history and economics. She earned her Juris Doctor from University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1994.
n August 2, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Du to replace Judge Roger L. Hunt, who had taken senior status.[8] A substantial majority of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which rates the qualifications of judicial nominees, rated Du as "qualified" for the post, with a minority rating her "not qualified" (the committee rates on a three-tier scale: well qualified, qualified, and not qualified). Du's nomination and confirmation were strongly supported by Nevada's two U.S. senators, Harry Reid (Democrat) and Dean Heller (Republican), as well as the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Her confirmation was opposed by some Republican senators, who viewed her as too inexperienced and cited a sanction against her in 2007 by a Nevada federal court.
On November 3, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported her nomination to the Senate floor in a party-line 10–8 vote. On March 28, 2012, Du's nomination was confirmed by a vote of 59 ayes to 39 nays. The vote broke mostly along party lines, with six Republican senators joining all Democrats in voting to confirm Du. She received her commission two days later. Du became the first Asian Pacific American to serve as an Article III judge in Nevada.
