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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Shanlyn A.S. Park to the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawai'i.
Born in Honolulu, HI, Judge Park received her B.A., cum laude, from Chaminade University in 1991 and her J.D. from the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School of Law in 1995. After graduating from law school, Judge Park served as a law clerk to the Honorable Francis I. Yamashita, magistrate judge for the District of Hawai'i. From 1996 to 1997, Judge Park worked on civil matters as an associate attorney at Hisaka Stone & Goto.
For the next two decades, Judge Park served as an assistant federal public defender and later as senior litigator in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Hawai'i. In these roles, Judge Park tried 10 felony jury trials and 10 misdemeanor bench trials to verdict. She also represented defendants through appeals and argued several cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prior to joining the bench, Judge Park worked in private practice as of counsel at Gallagher Kane Amai & Reyes and as partner and of counsel at McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP. At both firms, her practice centered on a variety of civil matters including commercial disputes, contested probate matters, real property disputes, and third-party insurance defense.
Since joining the State of Hawai'i's First Circuit Court in 2021, Judge Park has issued more than 100 written opinions and presided over 21 jury trials--17 in the family court criminal division and four in the circuit court criminal division.
The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Park as ``qualified,'' and her nomination is strongly supported by her home State Senators, Mr. Schatz and Ms. Hirono.
Once confirmed, Judge Park will become the first Native Hawai'ian woman to serve on the Federal bench. I am proud to support this historic nomination and urge my colleagues to do the same. Vote on Park nomination.
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