# Herbert Choy B.A. (1938) from University of Hawaii; J.D. (1941) from Harvard Law School ![Herbert Young Cho Choy. Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Justices and judges of the United States Courts (Washington: The Office, 198?. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000111390880&seq=41](/sites/g/files/omnuum10901/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-02/Choy_1.png?itok=6hfdPqvd) Herbert Young Cho Choy. Administrative Office of the United States Courts, *Justices and judges of the United States Courts* (Washington: The Office, 198?.) Herbert Choy (Ch’oe Yŏng-jo, 최영조, 1916–2004) was the first person of Korean ancestry to be admitted to the bar in the United States, and the first Asian American to be appointed as a United States federal judge.[\[1\]](#fn1) Choy was born on January 6, 1916 in the sugar plantation village of Makaweli in the Hawaiian island of Kauai.[\[2\]](#fn2) Choy’s father and mother, Doo Wook Choy and Helen Nahm Choy, had immigrated as children with their respective parents to Hawaii from a “southern province of Korea.”[\[3\] ](#fn3)They were part of the “great immigration wave” of Koreans who settled in Hawaii in the early twentieth century to work in the islands’ sugar and pineapple plantations.[\[4\]](#fn4) While Hawaiian plantation owners had initially recruited immigrants from China for cheap labor in the late nineteenth century, the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882 prohibited the further recruitment of Chinese laborers and forced Hawaii’s plantations to look elsewhere for labor. Korean immigrants like Choy’s grandparents were thus recruited for work beginning in 1903, and by 1905, more than 7,226 Koreans had arrived in Hawaii.[\[5\] ](#fn5) When Choy was five years old, Choy’s family moved to Honolulu where Choy spent much of his childhood and attended local public schools.[\[6\]](#fn6) While knowing he was “from a small town in a small state,” Choy and his family believed that education was the “steppingstone to realizing the American Dream.”[\[7\]](#fn7) Choy worked hard to support himself through school, working 10-hour shifts for 12 cents-an-hour at a Honolulu pineapple processing plant as a teenager.[\[8\]](#fn8) He attended the University of Hawaii, where he served in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938.[\[9\]](#fn9) Choy then moved to Boston that same year to begin attending Harvard Law School, where he was the only Asian student in his class.[\[10\]](#fn10) At Harvard, Choy “distinguished himself as a scholar.”[\[11\]](#fn11) Indeed, “if there was anything the self-effacing man was proud of,” reported the Honolulu Star-Bulletin regarding Choy, it was “his Harvard education.” As part of his Harvard Law School curriculum, Choy authored multiple student papers – at least two of which were preserved in the Harvard Law School Library Archives. In one such paper, titled, “The constitutional validity of ordinance 313, C. & C. of Honolulu,” Choy analyzed a revised ordinance in his hometown of Honolulu that set forth requirements that an owner of a residential district property must fulfill in order to have their property converted into a business, hotel, or club district.[\[12\]](#fn12) Suggesting that the revised ordinance could be found unconstitutional as the ordinance might amount to an impermissible “delegation of legislative power to private individuals,” young Choy argued that the Honolulu ordinance ought to “be held invalid” and called for an approach to zoning ordinances that would be “more in accord with the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution.”[\[13\]](#fn13) Choy also took a course in Family Law taught by Professor William E. McCurdy, a former secretary to Supreme Court Justice Brandeis, for which Choy wrote a student paper in 1941 titled, “Direct injury to one spouse by a non-tortious injury to the other spouse which constitutes indirect interference with the marital relation.”[\[14\]](#fn14) In the fifty-page paper, Choy discussed potential remedies available in common law for one spouse to recover for loss of support or of consortium against a third-party should the third-party sell to the other spouse a habit-forming drug or intoxicating liquor or else induce the other spouse to commit a crime or to gamble.[\[15\]](#fn15) “From time immemorial,” wrote twenty-five-year-old Choy, “the imbibition of spirituous beverages has occupied a firm station among the customs of man… overindulgence \[however\] has been recognized as an evil... \[and\] the ancient lawgivers of Israel, of China, of Carthage, and of England strove to stamp out the ravages of drink among their respective peoples.”[\[16\]](#fn16) In his conclusion, Choy noted it would be “interesting to observe future developments in the law.”[\[17\]](#fn17) Choy, however, was to become more than just an observer. Choy graduated from Harvard Law School with a degree as a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1941 and began clerking at the office of the Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu upon being admitted to the Hawaii bar.[\[18\]](#fn18) His clerkship was cut short when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7 of that same year, prompting the United States to enter World War II the next day. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Choy immediately joined the Hawaii Territorial Guard on December 8, 1941. He served there until 1942, before joining the U.S. Army as a lieutenant and serving in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1942 to 1946.[\[19\]](#fn19) Before he was discharged from active duty on December 7, 1946, he also served in both Korea and Japan.[\[20\]](#fn20) During his time in the army, Choy attended a six-week orientation at the School of Military Government in Charlottesville, Virginia.[\[21\]](#fn21) At that time, Choy met a young woman named Helen Shular (1918–2018) working at a radio station in Charlottesville. The couple married on June 19, 1945, in Denver, Colorado. Afterwards, Choy returned to his military base in California while Helen returned to Waynesboro, where she had been a high school English teacher.[\[22\]](#fn22) In the fall of 1946, Helen boarded an army ship and moved to Honolulu with Choy to support his new legal career.[\[23\]](#fn23) After leaving the Army, Choy was invited to join the firm Fong & Miho, later known as Fong, Miho, Choy & Robertson, as an attorney.[\[24\]](#fn24) A year after joining the firm, Choy was made a partner.[\[25\]](#fn25) One of his fellow partners included Hiram Fong, who became one of the first two U.S. Senators to represent Hawaii after it was admitted as the 50th state in 1959.[\[26\]](#fn26) Senator Fong later recommended Choy to be appointed as a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench in 1971, Choy practiced law continuously in Honolulu except between June 1957 and November 1958, during which he served as the Attorney General of Hawaii.[\[27\]](#fn27) Choy shaped the law even before he became a judge. As a member of the Compilation Committee, he helped compile the Revised Laws of Hawaii 1955, and as a member of a Hawaii Supreme Court committee, he helped draft the Hawaii Rules of Criminal Procedure in 1958 and 1959.[\[28\]](#fn28) ![Judge Herbert Choy’s Official Portrait](/sites/g/files/omnuum10901/files/2026-02/Choy%202_0.jpg) Judge Herbert Choy’s Official Portrait.On April 7, 1971, President Richard Nixon nominated Choy to fill the seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit left vacant by Judge Stanley Nelson.[\[29\]](#fn29) Choy’s nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate two weeks later on April 21, 1971, and received commission on April 23, 1971, upon which Choy became the first Asian American and the first Hawaiian to be appointed to federal judgeship.[\[30\]](#fn30) During his tenure as an appellate judge, Choy inspired many people around him including his more than seventy law clerks. Richard Clifton, who clerked for Judge Choy and was later appointed to fill Choy’s seat in 2000, recalled that Choy was a judge who “took every case very seriously… \[and\] read every brief and considered every argument.”[\[31\]](#fn31) Clifton remarked it was particularly notable that, despite the sheer “volume of (a federal judge’s) caseload” and the “enormous temptation to see some cases as more important than others,” Judge Choy “saw \[every case\] as the day in court for that person.”[\[32\]](#fn32) Christopher Cox, who clerked for Judge Choy from 1977 to 1978 and later became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, found Judge Choy to be a “scrupulously honest” man who was “unique, in his capacity to inspire others through a quiet dignity, leadership, \[and\] scholarship.”[\[33\]](#fn33) According to Representative Cox, Judge Choy was said to have paid particular attention to immigration cases, which made up a “significant portion of the total caseload” in the Ninth Circuit, “to make sure they were decided fairly.”[\[34\]](#fn34) Choy himself found the amount of work in the Ninth Circuit “to be enormous,” but also reported that, “he felt he had accomplished more as a federal appellate judge than in any other position.”[\[35\]](#fn35) Judge Choy authored opinions on a variety of matters during his time serving on the bench. In the 1990 case of *United States v. Kelvin E. Wilkin*, Judge Choy upheld a statute that imposed mandatory prison terms for carrying a gun while trafficking in drugs.[\[36\] ](#fn36)In the 1993 case of *United States v. Garcia*, Judge Choy upheld the constitutionality of a federal statute allowing child sexual abuse victims to testify via closed-circuit television.[\[37\]](#fn37) In the 1994 case of *Association of Nat. Advertisers, Inc. v. Lungren*, Judge Choy upheld California’s “green advertising” law which regulated advertisers’ claims about a product being “biodegradable” or “recycled.”[\[38\]](#fn38) After thirteen years of service, Judge Choy took senior status in 1984 and continued to work part-time.[\[39\]](#fn39) Even as a senior judge, Judge Choy took an active interest in mentoring the next generation of lawyers. On September 21, 1991, Judge Choy returned to Harvard Law School to give a talk titled, "Should Ideology & Values Matter in Constitutional Adjudication?” in Pound Hall; Judge Choy was invited to give the talk on-campus by the Korean Association of Harvard Law School (KAHLS) in conjunction with the "Saturday School,” a forum created by Professor Charles Ogletree to support minority students.[\[40\]](#fn40) Later in December of that year, after Judge Choy's visit, Professor Ogletree wrote a letter to the judge thanking him for being "one of the earliest Harvard alums to acknowledge the value of the \[Saturday School\] program” as well as for the judge’s “generous gift” to support the program, noting Judge Choy’s visit was a “great delight to the students who attended."[\[41\]](#fn41) Judge Choy passed away in his sleep at the age of 88 at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu on March 10, 2004 due to complications from pneumonia.[\[42\]](#fn42) Judge Choy was “an esteemed member of Hawaii’s Korean community,” and Edward Shultz, a scholar of Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii, remembered Choy as being “a pillar of the community and a strong supporter of Korean culture and things Korean in the community.”[\[43\]](#fn43) He was survived by Helen, his wife of 59 years, with whom he attended the University Avenue Baptist Church.[\[44\]](#fn44) He was also survived by generations of law clerks whom the judge and his wife considered their “Federal Family,” who commissioned a portrait of Judge Choy in December of 2003 to be donated to the Court of Appeals.[\[45\]](#fn45) For those who clerked under him, Judge Choy was “a man with enormous integrity” who “understood that the law is there for the entire community and that it should be administered fairly.”[\[46\]](#fn46) As one former law clerk put it, there was “no finer example of honesty, integrity, impartiality, and equality before the law” than Judge Choy, whose life represented “the importance of the rule of law” and the fact that, “our American republic depends upon people of \[such\] character.”[\[47\]](#fn47) Written by Andrew Young Jun Kim, 1/15/2026 --- ### **Endnotes** [\[1\]](#p2) “Attorney General Holder Delivers Remarks at Justice Department Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Event,” U.S. Department of Justice Archives, May 8, 2014, [https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/speech/attorney-general-holder-del…](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/speech/attorney-general-holder-delivers-remarksat-justice-department-asian-american-and-pacific). [\[2\] ](#p2)“Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy,” 23 Hastings L.J. 1141 (1971-1972), [https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/hastlj23&div=64&id=&page=.](https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/hastlj23&div=64&id=&page=.) [\[3\]](#p2) Ibid. [\[4\]](#p2) “Honoring Judge Herbert Choy,” Congressional Record Daily Edition - House, December 08, 2003, [\[5\]](#p2) “History of Korean Immigration to America, from 1903 to Present,” Boston University - Boston Korean Diaspora Project, [https://sites.bu.edu/koreandiaspora/issues/history-of-korean-immigratio…](https://sites.bu.edu/koreandiaspora/issues/history-of-korean-immigration-to-america)- from-1903-to-present/. For a study of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and anti-Chinese movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, see Erika Lee, The Making of Asian American: A History (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2015), 89–108. For Korean immigrants to Hawaii, Lee, The Making of Asian America, 137–150. [\[6\] ](#p3)“Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy.” [\[7\]](#p3) Pat Gee, “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, [\[8\] ](#p3)Peter Boylan, “Herbert Choy served on 9th Circuit Court,” Honolulu Advertiser, March 12, 2004, [\[9\] ](#p3)Ibid. [\[10\]](#p3) Gee, “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” [\[11\]](#p3) “Honoring Judge Herbert Choy.” [\[12\]](#p4)[ ](#p12)Herbert Y.C. Choy, “The constitutional validity of ordinance 313, C. & C. of Honolulu,” Harvard Law School student paper law, 1941, Harvard Law School Library Special Collections. \*Note: The paper is preserved in a folder dated 1949. [\[13\]](#p4) Ibid. [\[14\]](#p5) Herbert Y.C. Choy, “Direct injury to one spouse by a non-tortious injury to the other spouse which constitutes indirect interference with the marital relation,” Harvard Law School third year paper law, 1941, Harvard Law School Library Special Collections. [\[15\]](#p5) Ibid. [\[16\] ](#p5)Ibid, p. 16. [\[17\]](#p5) Ibid, p. 50. [\[18\]](#p6) “Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy.” [\[19\]](#p6) Gee, “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” [\[20\]](#p6) Boylan, “Herbert Choy served on 9th Circuit Court.” [\[21\] ](#p7)“Helen Shular Choy,” The Star-Advertiser Obituaries, . [\[22\]](#p7) Ibid. [\[23\]](#p7) Ibid. [\[24\]](#p8) “Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy.” [\[25\]](#p8) Ibid. [\[26\]](#p8) “Herbert Y.C. Choy, First Asian American to Serve On Federal Bench, Dies at 88,” Metropolitan News, March 15, 2004, [www.metnews.com/articles/2004/choy031504.htm](http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/choy031504.htm). [\[27\]](#p8) “Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy.” [\[28\]](#p8) Ibid. [\[29\] ](#p9)“Choy, Herbert Young Cho,” Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789-present, Federal Judicial Center, [\[30\] ](#p9)Ibid. [\[31\]](#p9) Gee, “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” [\[32\]](#p9) Ibid. [\[33\]](#p9) “Honoring Judge Herbert Choy.” [\[34\]](#p10) Ibid. [\[35\]](#p10) Gee, “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” [\[36\]](#p10) See United States v. Kelvin E. Wilkins, 911 F.2d 337 (9th Cir. 1990). [\[37\] ](#p10)See United States v. Garcia, 7 F.3d 885 (9th Cir. 1993). [\[38\]](#p10) See Association of Nat. Advertisers, Inc. v. Lungren, 44 F.3d 726 (9th Cir. 1994). [\[39\]](#p11) “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” [\[40\]](#p11) “Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy, 1991,” in Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. papers, 1981-2004. LAW MMC 401 Box 348A, Folder 16, Harvard Law School Library. [\[41\]](#p11) Ibid. [\[42\]](#p12) Boylan, “Herbert Choy served on the 9th Circuit Court”; and Gee, “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” [\[43\]](#p12) Boylan, “Herbert Choy served on 9 th Circuit Court.” [\[44\]](#p12) “Helen Shular Choy.” [\[45\]](#p12) “Herbert Y.C. Choy, First Asian American to Serve On Federal Bench, Dies at 88.” [\[46\]](#p12) Ibid. [\[47\]](#p12) “Honoring Judge Herbert Choy.” ### Bibliography Association of Nat. Advertisers, Inc. v. Lungren, 44 F.3d 726 (9th Cir. 1994). “Attorney General Holder Delivers Remarks at Justice Department Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Event.” U.S. Department of Justice Archives, May 8, 2014. Boylan, Peter. “Herbert Choy served on 9th Circuit Court.” Honolulu Advertiser, March 12, 2004\. “Choy, Herbert Young Cho.” Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789-present, Federal Judicial Center. Choy, Herbert Y.C. “Direct injury to one spouse by a non-tortious injury to the other spouse which constitutes indirect interference with the marital relation.” Harvard Law School third year paper law, 1941. Harvard Law School Library Special Collections. Choy, Herbert Y.C. “The constitutional validity of ordinance 313, C. & C. of Honolulu.” Harvard Law School student paper law, 1941. Harvard Law School Library Special Collections. \*Note: The paper is preserved in a folder dated 1949. Gee, Pat. “Isle judge was Asian pioneer in the law field nationwide.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “Helen Shular Choy.” The Star-Advertiser Obituaries. “Herbert Y.C. Choy, First Asian American to Serve On Federal Bench, Dies at 88.” Metropolitan News, March 15, 2004. [www.metnews.com/articles/2004/choy031504.htm](http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/choy031504.htm). “Honoring Judge Herbert Choy.” Congressional Record Daily Edition, December 08, 2003. “Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy, 1991.” In Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. papers, 1981-2004. LAW MMC 401 Box 348A, Folder 16, Harvard Law School Library. Lee, Erika. The Making of Asian American: A History. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2015. Office of the United States Courts, Justices and judges of the United States Courts (Washington: The Office, 198?. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000111390880&seq=41.](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000111390880&seq=41.) United States v. Kelvin E. Wilkins, 911 F.2d 337 (9th Cir. 1990). United States v. Garcia, 7 F.3d 885 (9th Cir. 1993). - ## Decade [1940-1950](/decade/1940-1950) - ## Korean Alumni [Graduate School of Arts and Sciences](/korean-alumni-decade/gsas)