California’s First South Asian Federal Judge

Vijay “Jay” Chand Gandhi was sworn in as California’s  first South Asian federal judge on April 14th.  He is only the second Indian American federal judge in the country.  Gandhi will be a magistrate judge for the  U.S. District CouJudge_Gandhi.gifrt in California’s Central District.  This district serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

India-West reports, “The duties of magistrate judges include conducting preliminary proceedings in criminal cases, trying and disposing of misdemeanor cases, ruling on discovery disputes in civil cases, issuing reports in habeas corpus and civil rights cases, trying civil cases and other assigned matters.”

Kiran Jain, president of the South Asian Bar Association in Northern California, told India-West, “As the first South Asian federal judge in California, Judge Gandhi’s appointment is not only an historic advancement in increasing diversity in our judiciary, but a testament to the South Asian American legal community’s progress in advancing our bar to the highest levels of our profession.”

Congratulations Vijay Gandhi! It will be interesting to see if and how Gandhi utilizes his  experience as a South Asian American in his  work as judge.   It is one thing to have a South Asian name and another to actually use your cultural experiences to help the community.  I hope he views being a federal judge as an opportunity to shed light on the issues impacting the South Asian community while helping create larger policy changes.

As far as I know, there are no Sikh U.S.  federal judges.  Do you know of any?  If not, I await the day we have Sikh U.S. federal judges.   Hopefully it won’t be too much longer. Being a lawyer is one of the top 3 professions many Sikhs pursue any ways.


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7 Responses to “California’s First South Asian Federal Judge”

  1. Hardly says:

    Phulkari – first off, who cares?

    Second: Being a lawyer is one of the top 3 professions many Sikhs pursue any ways.

    Do you have any evidence of this? Get your head out of your elitist circles and meet normal people. It is hardly a top 3 profession.

  2. Hardly says:

    Phulkari – first off, who cares?

    Second: Being a lawyer is one of the top 3 professions many Sikhs pursue any ways.

    Do you have any evidence of this? Get your head out of your elitist circles and meet normal people. It is hardly a top 3 profession.

  3. Rajbinder says:

    Hardly, why do you comment if you have nothing constructive to say. Im interested how a person with the slightest of formal education could come up with this post as "elitist". I dont laugh often, but that was funny.

    Secondly, I would like to applaud langarhall in spreading their diversity and understanding that our sikh community is still part of a larger south asian community. All too often on this website I would find posts marking the differences and distinctions that we as sikhs have to the rest of the south asian community.

    Thank you for finally posting opinions that are more along the lines of congratulations and supporting the plight of our community as a whole rather than focusing on our differences. Much more interesting, much more progressive… the future of pushing our people forward

    Having said that Vijay Gandhi is of Punjabi heritage, which I hopefully brings some sort of happiness to those still pulling at the strings of separation.

  4. Rajbinder says:

    Hardly, why do you comment if you have nothing constructive to say. Im interested how a person with the slightest of formal education could come up with this post as "elitist". I dont laugh often, but that was funny.

    Secondly, I would like to applaud langarhall in spreading their diversity and understanding that our sikh community is still part of a larger south asian community. All too often on this website I would find posts marking the differences and distinctions that we as sikhs have to the rest of the south asian community.

    Thank you for finally posting opinions that are more along the lines of congratulations and supporting the plight of our community as a whole rather than focusing on our differences. Much more interesting, much more progressive… the future of pushing our people forward

    Having said that Vijay Gandhi is of Punjabi heritage, which I hopefully brings some sort of happiness to those still pulling at the strings of separation.

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  6. Comfortabl y, the article is in reality the greatest on this worthy topic. I concur with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your coming updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the wonderful lucidity in your writing. I will directly grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. Good work and much success in your business dealings!

  7. Robert Flurk says:

    Good post! i have read your post.it very interesting to read about Vijay Gandhi.California’s First South Asian Federal Judge and He is only the second Indian American federal judge in the country.its really very proudly topic for every Indian.thanks dear.