- A. Wallace Tashima
Atsushi Wallace Tashima (born 1934) is the third
Asian American and firstJapanese American in the history of the United States to be appointed to aUnited States Court of Appeals .Early life
Tashima was born in 1934 in
Santa Maria , CA, to Yasutaro and Aya Tashima. He is Nisei Japanese American. DuringWorld War II he was interned at thePoston War Relocation Center in Arizona, an internment camp for Japanese Americans. After the war his family moved to Southern California. He lived inBoyle Heights , graduating from Roosevelt High School inEast Los Angeles . From 1953 to 1956, Tashima served in theUnited States Marine Corps , and was honorably discharged with the rank ofSergeant . He received aB.A. from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles in 1958, and anLL.B. from theHarvard Law School in 1961. [http://www.downtown-los-angeles-jacl.org/us-supreme-court.html JA jurists profiled by JACL, Downtown LA Chapter] ]Career
Upon graduation from law school, from 1962-1968, Tashima became the Deputy
State Attorney General for the State ofCalifornia . He then joined theAmstar Corporation as an attorney in its Spreckels Sugar Division (1968-1972) and then as the General attorney and vice president of Amstar from 1972 to 1977. Tashima returned to private practice in 1977, as a partner atMorrison & Foerster , in Los Angeles.In 1980,
President Jimmy Carter nominated Tashima to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California . Tashima served for fifteen years on the district court before he was then elevated byPresident Bill Clinton to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1996. Tashima assumed senior status on June 30, 2004.Personal life
Tashima is married and has three children and three grandchildren. He resides in Los Angeles. He is the father of
Academy Award -winning filmmaker and actor,Chris Tashima . [ [http://www.isthatlegal.org/mt/archives/2004_11_01_isthatlegal_archive.html Conference review by Greg Robinson on IsThatLegal.org - 11/9/04] ]Awards
* Trial Jurist of the Year, Los Angeles County Bar Association (1995-96) [ [http://www.isdls.org/resume_jtashima.html Tashima resume] on ISDLS website]
References
External links
* [http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/tash032204.htm A. Wallace Tashima profile] on metnews.com
* [http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2339 A. Wallace Tashima profile] at Federal Judicial Center online
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.