---
title: "Jennifer Sung | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/jennifer-sung"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-10-07"
---

# Jennifer Sung

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · U.S. Circuit Judge

## Profile

- Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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

- Judicial role: Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2021–present)
- Skadden Fellow and counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, 2005-2007
- After law school, Sung held the role of a law clerk to Ninth Circuit Judge Betty Binns Fletcher (2004–2005) and was a Skadden Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice (2005–2007)
- Law clerk, Hon. Betty Binns Fletcher, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2004-2005
- Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Notable as the first judge from the Asian American Pacific Islander community to serve on the Ninth Circuit from Oregon and one of the few federal judges with a labor law background

### Education

- a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2004.
- She earned a B.A. in Politics with honors from Oberlin College in 1994

### Additional information

- On June 30, 2021, President Biden nominated Sung to replace Susan P. Graber, who was taking senior status.
- Her nomination was sent to the Senate on July 13, 2021, and after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 14, 2021, the committee tied 10–10 on reporting it.
- She received her commission on December 20, 2021.
- The Senate discharged the nomination on November 3, 2021, and on December 15, 2021, it was confirmed by a 50–49 vote.
- Member, Oregon Employment Relations Board, 2017-2021
- She then worked in private practice in San Francisco (2007–2013) and Portland, Oregon (2013–2017), before joining the Oregon Employment Relations Board in 2017, where she adjudicated unfair labor practice disputes.
- Private practice, San Francisco, California, 2007-2013
- New York City, 1998-2001
- Organizer, Service Employees International Union, 1995-2001
- Before law school, she held a position as a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organizer from 1994 to 2001.
- Long Island City, New York, 1996-1998
- Syracuse, New York, 1995
- Jennifer Sung was born in 1972 in Edison, New Jersey, to a Chinese-American family.
- Date of birth: 1972
- representing workers and drafting labor legislation.
- She has been active in cases involving workers’ rights, such as Kiran v.
- Kijakazi, where she reversed a Social Security disability denial after finding the administrative law judge’s decision disregarded medical and testimonial evidence.
- Key roles: SEIU organizer, law clerk, Brennan Center fellow, private practice attorney, Oregon Employment Relations Board member
- Birth place: Edison

## 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/11201336)
- [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/11201336)
- [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/11201336)
- [Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34, Oral Argument](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-appellate-procedure)
- [Judge Jennifer Sung](https://www.fjc.gov/node/11201336)
- [Wikidata: Jennifer Sung](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107380107)

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