The second Latina to be confirmed to the Northern District of California bench and one of the few immigrant rights attorneys to become a federal judge will be a thoughtful, compassionate jurist who understands firsthand how the law impacts real people, lawyers who know her say.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 48-48 vote in February, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in her favor. Her confirmation makes Judge Martínez-Olguín just the second Latina to serve in the Northern District of California, according to the White House’s July announcement of her nomination.
It also makes Judge Martínez-Olguín the rare federal judge who has spent most of her career helping protect immigrants’ rights.
“It’s a slightly different path than we’re used to seeing in folks appointed to the bench, which I think is great,” said attorney Nora Preciado, who worked with Judge Martínez-Olguín at the National Immigration Law Center.
That background gives Judge Martínez-Olguín a unique understanding of the law, particularly when it comes to constitutional issues, which she often dealt with in her immigrant rights work, Preciado added.
But it will also make her more compassionate as a judge, according to those who know her.
“Immigration is a complex field that requires a lot of legal knowledge, but also requires compassion and empathy,” said Brian Amaya, current president of the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association.
“The ability for a person to stay in this country with their family in order to avoid persecution, famine, war or political instability can be the most important legal decision or conclusion our legal system can make,” Amaya told Law360 Pulse. “It is important that members of our bench are individuals that can apply the law to real-life situations involving real-life people, in ways that are both lawful but full of compassion.”
While at NILC, Judge Martínez-Olguín spearheaded the organization’s work involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, including representing a class of DACA recipients who challenged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security‘s efforts to curtail that program, according to a questionnaire she submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
She contributed to merits and post-argument briefing when that case was consolidated with parallel challenges before the U.S. Supreme Court, she told the Senate.
Judge Martínez-Olguín also served as lead counsel in a Tennessee civil rights class action brought by Latino workers who alleged that their arrests during a worksite immigration raid lacked probable cause and were discriminatory.
Those cases and others showed the judge to be a very calm, steady and methodical litigator, according to Preciado, who worked with her on the Tennessee case.
“Areceli has always been somebody who’s very thoughtful, thorough, methodical in her legal thinking,” Preciado said. “She’s somebody who always wants to really dig deep into issues. She has a very steady approach and temperament to practicing law.”
“As an attorney, Judge Martínez-Olguín was known as a quick learner and could handle any type of legal issue,” echoed Ray Manzo, president of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association.
She also loved to discuss those issues with her teammates, Preciado added.
Amaya added, “Just from talking to her, you could tell she was a brilliant legal mind. It was often my pleasure to just talk law with her. I believe that this was her most impressive quality — her vast understanding of the law and her ability to critically think about it and discuss it in a straightforward manner.”
Prior to her work at NILC, Judge Martínez-Olguín established and ran the Immigrants’ Rights Project at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, California, where she conducted policy advocacy, took on impact litigation and counseled local community groups, according to her Senate questionnaire.
“She certainly jumped into a lot of issues,” the organization’s executive director Katrina Logan said. The judge was “always looking for opportunities to use the law to promote and support our clients and the issues that impact them,” Logan said.
She also developed the organization’s emergency plan to deal with potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention of the group’s clients or possible ICE appearances at the organization’s offices, according to Logan.
“She was super-resourceful,” Logan added. “It was really great working with her, and I think she added a lot to our organization.”
Judge Martínez-Olguín also spent time in the ACLU‘s Women’s Rights Project and Immigrants’ Rights Project, litigating human trafficking claims involving the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and educating female farmworkers about how to protect their rights when faced with sex discrimination on the job, she told the Judiciary Committee.
She worked on the team that challenged the constitutionality of Arizona’s policy of denying driver’s licenses to DACA recipients under the supremacy and equal protection clauses, according to her Senate questionnaire. And she was part of a group of advocates who provided expertise about crafting the 2008 reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to better protect foreign workers.
Judge Martínez-Olguín has also worked at Legal Aid at Work as a staff attorney in its National Origin, Immigration and Language Rights Program, and in the U.S. Department of Education‘s Office for Civil Rights, where she investigated complaints against school districts and universities, according to her Senate questionnaire.
That background dealing with immigrants’ rights issues means the new jurist is steeped in constitutional issues such as due process, equal protection and freedom of speech, Preciado pointed out.
“It’s a great addition to the court because she’s somebody who has had to grapple very deeply with constitutional issues throughout her career, and I think few lawyers have that kind of experience under their belt,” Preciado said.
But more than her legal knowledge and acumen, what stands out to most of the attorneys who know her is how compassionate and caring she is, especially when it comes to her clients, they said.
“She was somebody who approached the law and the power of the law from a very human perspective, from a very personal connection with folks who are going through the system,” Preciado said.
This skill was especially apparent when the judge was dealing with the clients she and Preciado represented in the Tennessee case, where it was important for her to connect with those clients after they’d been through a traumatic immigration raid, Preciado said.
“She wasn’t showing up as just a brilliant lawyer, but also a human being and somebody who understood what people had gone through and wanted to be there to support in any way possible,” Preciado said. “That’s something that I really admire in her.”
Judge Martínez-Olguín also cares deeply about mentoring young Latina attorneys and working to improve their representation in the legal industry, according to these lawyers.
She has served as president and on the board of the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association and on the board of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, according to her Senate questionnaire. Both organizations focus on expanding legal access in the Latinx community and supporting Latinx attorneys.
She “worked tirelessly” to keep the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association funding scholarships and promoting mentorships for Latinx law school students, according to Amaya. And she made sure the organization’s Judicial Endorsement Committee met with and endorsed candidates for the bench, especially those who would promote the organization’s mission.
“She did a lot to continue our mission statement of growing the Latinx community’s presence in the California bar and bench,” said Amaya.
Judge Martínez-Olguín has even taught Spanish for Lawyers at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she earned her law degree.
That wasn’t her first time in the classroom. Before attending law school, the judge was a bilingual kindergarten teacher in Oakland, California, she told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
After graduating from law school, she clerked for U.S. District Judge David Briones in the Western District of Texas.
All those elements of her background mean Judge Martínez-Olguín will bring a unique and much-needed perspective to the federal bench, according to attorneys.
Her confirmation is “very significant, because it will bring a different viewpoint that is missing on the bench,” Manzo said. “Judges bring their career and personal experiences when making decisions, and having her there with a civil rights/immigration attorney and Latina viewpoint will create a richer discussion and interpretation of the law.”
“She will truly be able to apply sound legal principles to real-life situations that deal with real-life people and have real-life outcomes,” echoed Amaya.
“She will be a wonderful judge,” he added.
–Editing by Nicole Bleier.
We need MORE NDPA “practical scholars” like Judge Martínez-Olguín — MANY MORE — on the Federal Bench — at ALL levels! The place where the NDPA can make the most immediate positive impact is at EOIR! That’s why I’m urging NDPA members to get those applications in for current Immigration Judge vacancies and all that come up in the future.
We’ve seen in the past few weeks, graphically, how horrible judging from unqualified right wing zealots appointed by Trump can destroy precious individual rights and freedoms in America. NOW is the time to “model” the positive impact that practical scholars committed to due process, immigrants’ rights, and excellence in decision-making can have on American justice — starting at the all-important “retail level!”
