Eunice C. Lee

Lee was born on a United States Air Force base in Wiesbaden, Germany.[2] She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio State University in 1993 and her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1996.[3]

Lee began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Susan J. Dlott on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio from 1996 to 1997, and Judge Eric L. Clay on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 2019 she worked with the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City; from 2003 to 2019 she also served as director of recruitment and outreach at the Office of the Appellate Defender. She joined the office as a Staff Attorney and was named supervising attorney in 2001. She served as an adjunct assistant professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law from 2003 to 2019, teaching a criminal appellate defense clinic.[3]

On May 12, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Lee to serve as a United States Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to the seat vacated by Judge Robert Katzmann, who took senior status on January 21, 2021.[4]

On June 9, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[5] On July 15, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 11–10 vote; Senator Lindsey Graham passed on the vote.[6] She is the second African American woman ever to serve on the Second Circuit and the only judge with experience as a federal defender serving on that circuit.[7] During Clarence Thomas's 1991 Supreme Court hearing, Lee criticized Thomas in a letter to Ohio State University's student newspaper The Lantern, accusing him of discounting the role racism plays in the contemporary difficulties faced by African Americans. During her own confirmation hearing in 2021, she distanced herself from the contents of the letter.[8]

On August 3, 2021, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on Lee's nomination.[9] On August 5, 2021, the Senate voted 50–49 in favor of cloture on Lee's nomination, with Senator Graham absent.[10] On August 7, 2021, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote.[11][12] She received her commission on August 16, 2021. Upon confirmation, Judge Lee became the longest-serving public defender to ever serve as a judge on a U.S. Court of Appeals.[13]

• Eunice C. Lee at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Eunice Lee at Ballotpedia