Western Pa. U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung nominated to 3rd Circuit bench

President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Cindy K. Chung to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Chung, 46, has served as the U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania since 2021. She would become the first Asian American to sit on the Third Circuit court if she is confirmed.

Before being named U.S. Attorney, Chung served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Pennsylvania from 2014 to 2021.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, praised Biden’s nomination of Chung and said she has served the Western District of Pennsylvania with integrity. He said he supports her nomination and urged the Senate to confirm her quickly.

“Cindy has been a trailblazer throughout her career — not only by serving as the first Senate-confirmed (Asian American) U.S. Attorney in Pennsylvania, but also working on the first Shepherd-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act prosecution in the country,” Casey said.

Chung was part of a team of trial attorneys in Arkansas in 2011 who successfully prosecuted the first defendants to be sentenced under the Shepherd-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded federal hate crime laws to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

She earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 2002 and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1997.