US President Joe Biden has nominated Ghanaian-born American, Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong as a judge in the district court for the Central District of California.
Frimpong was born and raised in Los Angeles County, California to Kwaku Ewusi-Mensah and Theodora Ewusi-Mensah, immigrants from Ghana.
She earned a bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude, in History from Harvard in 1997. She then moved to Ghana where she was a high school teacher in a public school. She later earned a JD from Yale Law School in 2001.
She was part of eight fresh candidates announced by Joe Biden on September 8 for the federal bench.
She is said to be the first-ever woman of colour to serve on the Ninth Circuit from California, after the US President presented his nominees for the federal judicial position for the seventh time.
She was appointed to the bench 2016 by the former Governor Jerry Brown and filled the vacancy that was created by the retirement of Hon. Thomas R White. Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong has served as a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2016.
From 2015 to 2016, she worked at Millennium Challenge Corporation as vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary.
From 2007 to 2015, Judge Frimpong worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, serving in various positions, including as Counselor to the Attorney General, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, and other positions.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Judge Frimpong worked as an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco from 2002 to 2007.
Judge Frimpong served as a law clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2001 to 2002.
She is a registered Democrat.
Throughout her legal career, Judge Frimpong has sought to provide pro bono legal assistance to low-income individuals through various outreach entities.
Source: TrellisLaw, myJoyonline
