--- title: "Florence Y. Pan | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/florence-y-pan" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-09" --- # Florence Y. Pan U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · U.S. Circuit Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - State: National federal courts - Role: U.S. Circuit Judge - Service status: active - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge. ## Biography ### Professional career - Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2009-present - She then held the role of a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia from September 2021 until her elevation to the D.C. Circuit in September 2022 - Associate Judge on the D.C. Superior Court from 2009 to 2021, presiding over more than 650 trials across the Criminal, Civil, and Family Divisions, and sat by designation on the D.C. Court of Appeals. - Assistant U.S. attorney, District of Columbia, 1999-2009 - Adjunct professor of law, American University Washington College of Law, 2007-2008 - U.S. Department of Justice, 1995-1998 - Bristow Fellow, Office of the Solicitor General, 1995-1996; attorney, Appellate Section, Criminal Division, 1996-1998 - Special assistant U.S. attorney, District of Columbia, 1997 - Law clerk, Hon. Ralph K. Winter, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1994-1995 - Law clerk, Hon. Michael B. Mukasey, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1993-1994 - Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit - She then held the role of a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General and as an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice ### Education - Pan then attended Stanford Law School, graduating in 1993 with a Juris Doctor with distinction, serving as an editor for the Stanford Law Review and the Stanford Law and Policy Review. - University of Pennsylvania — B.A. (1988) - Two undergraduate degrees, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1988 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. ### Additional information - Judge Pan has presided over significant cases, including the 2024 federal appeals case United States of America v. - President Joe Biden nominated Pan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 25, 2022, to fill the seat vacated by Ketanji Brown Jackson. - The Senate confirmed her nomination on September 20, 2022, by a 52–42 vote, and she received her commission on September 26, 2022. - received the Charles Fahy Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award in 2018 for excellence in teaching. - U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1998-1999; senior advisor to the Undersecretary for Financial Markets, 1998; senior advisor to the Undersecretary for Domestic Finance, 1999 - Florence Yu Pan was born in 1966 in New York City to Taiwanese immigrant parents, Wu-Ching Pan and Felicia D. Pan, and grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. - Date of birth: 1966-11-16 - Pan also worked at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a senior advisor to the undersecretary for domestic finance. - Pan has the distinction of serving on all four local and federal courts in the District of Columbia. - The first Chinese American to serve on this influential appellate court. - After law school, Pan clerked for Judge Michael B. Mukasey of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and for Judge Ralph K. Winter Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. - Donald J. Trump, which rejected claims of absolute presidential immunity. - Birth place: New York City ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### appellate oral argument Scope: courtwide In federal courts of appeals, oral argument is allowed unless a three-judge panel unanimously finds one of Rule 34's specified grounds for dispensing with it; the clerk provides the date, time, place, and time allocation. Evidence excerpt: Oral argument must be allowed in every case unless a panel of three judges who have examined the briefs and record unanimously agrees that oral argument is unnecessary [Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34, Oral Argument](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-appellate-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10761211) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10761211) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10761211) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/6791/florence-y-pan/) - [Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34, Oral Argument](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-appellate-procedure) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/6791/florence-y-pan/) - [Pan, Florence Y.](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10761211) - [Wikidata: Florence Y. Pan](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24055559) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/florence-y-pan", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/florence-y-pan", "name": "Florence Y. Pan | KnowJudges", "description": "Florence Y. Pan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Source-linked judicial identity, courtroom procedures, and presentation guidance.", "dateModified": "2026-10-09", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/florence-y-pan#judge" } }, { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/florence-y-pan#judge", "name": "Florence Y. 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