Dolly Maizie Gee is a United States district judge on the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Background
Gee was born in Hawthorne, California, the daughter of Cantonese immigrants from rural China. Gee"s father was a World World War II veteran who later worked as an aerospace engineer on projects like the space shuttle and the Apollo missions, while her mother was a garment worker
Education
University of California, Los Los Angeles
Career
Gee earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981 and a law degree from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1984. From 1984 until 1986, Gee served as a law clerk for Judge Milton Schwartz of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. In 1986, Gee joined the Los Angeles law firm of Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers Limited Liability Partnership. She served as an associate from 1986 until 1990, and became a partner in 1990.
On May 27, 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Gee to be a judge on the United States District Court for the Central District of California to replace Judge John G. Davies.
However, with Republicans in control of the United States Senate, Gee"s nomination languished, despite her meeting with Clinton on May 24, 2000. Gee never received a hearing before the Republican-controlled United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and her nomination was returned to Clinton at the end of his presidency.
President George West. Bush later successfully nominated John F. Walter to the seat to which Gee had been nominated. On August 6, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Gee to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central District of California, to fill the seat vacated by Judge George P. Schiavelli, who resigned in October 2008.
On October 15, 2009, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary referred Gee"s nomination to the full Senate.
The Senate confirmed Gee by unanimous consent on December 24, 2009. On March 19, 2010, Gee was inducted to the United States District Court. This makes her the first Chinese American woman to serve as an Article III Judge.
Membership
From 1994 until 1999, Gee also served as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a federal labor relations authority.