Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray commended President Joe Biden on his historic nomination of Tana Lin, a former public defender and civil rights attorney, and Grant County Superior Court Judge David Estudillo, a former immigration lawyer, to serve as U.S. District Court judges for the Western District of Washington for the Seattle and Tacoma courthouses, respectively.
Senator Murray recommended Lin and Judge Estudillo to the Biden-Harris administration in early 2021 after their names were submitted to the Senator for consideration by Murray’s judicial merit selection committee.
“The federal judicial system plays a deeply significant role in shaping our everyday lives — it’s important we appoint highly qualified individuals who also reflect the makeup of our country. Both Tana Lin and Judge David Estudillo, through their personal and professional experiences, will bring a powerful and important perspective to the federal bench and both are eminently qualified to serve as exceptional federal district court judges. I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to ensure both are confirmed as quickly as possible,” said Senator Murray.
Tana Lin is Of Counsel at Keller Rohrback L.L.P. in Seattle where she practices in the complex litigation group, working to vindicate the rights of employees, consumers, and shareholders. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Washington. She has also served as a cooperating attorney for the ACLU, successfully challenging the Trump Administration’s travel ban, obtaining a nationwide injunction preventing the Administration from enforcing the policy with regard to refugees, and settling the case favorably for her clients in February 2020. In other pro bono activities, Lin has worked with Columbia Legal Services and the Lawyers Fostering Independence Program.
Lin began her career at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. She then became a trial attorney in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. Lin continued her work enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws in the Chicago District Office of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She then spent three years on a range of equal justice projects at the Michigan Poverty Law Program before moving to Seattle and joining Keller Rohrback.
Lin has consistently sought opportunities to help train the next generation of lawyers: as an adjunct professor this past fall at Seattle University School of Law where she taught pretrial advocacy, helping the Federal Bar Association of Washington develop the 2020 Western District of Washington Litigation Academy; partnering with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy to put on a free deposition skills training for legal services attorneys in Washington, providing litigation training for Columbia Legal Services and Women Antitrust Plaintiffs’ Attorneys, and participating as faculty at litigation trainings put on by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
A Chinese-American, Lin immigrated from Taiwan when she was three years old, speaking only Mandarin at home before she enrolled in school. Lin worked at a K-Mart in high school while juggling her schooling and extracurricular activities. She attended Cornell University and New York University School of Law, working multiple jobs during both college and law school. Lin would be the first Asian American appointed to be a federal judge in either district of Washington state.
Judge David Estudillo was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the position of Grant County Superior Court Judge in 2015. He ran to retain his position on the Court in 2016, and during that election cycle he was endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic parties of Grant County. In 2020, Estudillo ran unopposed and was elected to serve a second 4-year term. He currently serves as the Presiding Judge of the Grant County Superior Court and is the President of the Washington State Superior Court Judges’ Association.
Estudillo began his career working at a mid-size firm in North Central Washington and later worked for an insurance defense firm in Seattle that focused on multi-party complex litigation. In 2005, with a desire to reengage with the Latino community in which he was raised and to utilize his Spanish language skills, Estudillo opened his own law firm with offices in both Eastern and Western Washington where he specialized in immigration law. Estudillo represented clients in removal proceedings before the Seattle and Tacoma Immigration Courts, successfully presenting and trying claims for asylum, cancellation of removal, and other forms of relief from deportation. He also frequently volunteered at immigration legal clinics to assist immigrants in applying for citizenship and often presented information in Spanish about immigration policy and procedure at local community forums. Since becoming a Superior Court Judge, Estudillo frequently uses his unique position as a successful Latino judge to inspire young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to focus intently on their education and consider careers in the law.
Judge Estudillo is the son of Mexican immigrants who came to the Yakima Valley through the Bracero Program in the 1960s. Born and raised in Sunnyside, Washington, he is the ninth of ten children and is fluent in Spanish. His parents were farmworkers who eventually opened a small grocery store where Estudillo worked growing up and through college. Estudillo attended Columbia Basin Community College before transferring to the University of Washington where he received his Bachelor’s degree and then graduated from the University of Washington School of Law.