Senate Confirms Tung as Judge of Ninth Circuit

Thursday, November 6, 2025

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Senate Confirms Tung as Judge of Ninth Circuit

By a MetNews Staff Writer

TUNG

The Senate yesterday, by a vote of 52-45, confirmed Eric Chunyee Tung, a partner in Jones Day, as a judge of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

He replaces Judge Sandra S. Ikuta who is assuming senior status.

Tung, 42, clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch in 2017, and had similarly assisted him in 2010-11 when the jurist was a member of the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He also clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin G. Scalia in 2012.

From 2016-17, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California and was an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2011-12.

Tung graduated cum laude from University of Chicago School of Law where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and was managing editor of the law review.

Trump’s Remarks

President Donald Trump nominated him in July. He commented in a posting:

“We need more TOUGH and SMART Judges on the Federal Bench, who fearlessly defend our Constitution, and Joshua will do just do that,” adding:

“Eric is a Tough Patriot, who will uphold the Rule of Law in the most RADICAL, Leftist States like California, Oregon, and Washington.”

Those states are in the Ninth Circuit.

Opposition by Padilla

The nomination was adamently opposed by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla who closely questioned Tung at a Judiciary Committee hearing on July 30. He declared:

“This is a lifetime appointment to the federal bench, colleagues. An appellate court nominee in particular should have the judgment, the independence, and the respect for precedent worthy of the position. But instead, Mr. Tung, the nominee before us, is not here because of his independence or his judicial temperament. He’s here because of his ideology.”

Tung, a member of the conservative/Libertarian Federalist Society, is Trump’s first appointee to the Ninth Circuit in his present term. Ten members of that court were placed on it during Trump’s previous administration in 2017-21.

There are two other Ninth Circuit judges appointed by a Republican president. George W. Bush in 2003 named Consuello Callahan and Milan Smith Jr. to that court.

The 13 appointees of a Republican president are outnumbered by the 16 who were selected by Democratic presidents.

There are no vacancies in any of the 29 seats of active judges.