Education
She had previously attended Stanford University for two years before moving to University of California, Berkeley to complete her undergraduate degree.
She had previously attended Stanford University for two years before moving to University of California, Berkeley to complete her undergraduate degree.
Ikuta received a master"s in journalism from Columbia University in 1978. She received her Juris Doctor from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1988. While there, she served as the editor of the University of California, Los Angeles Law Review.
She went on to clerk for Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski and United States. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O"Connor.
She became an associate of the law firm O’Melveny & Myers in 1990 and went on to become a partner in 1997. At the time of her nomination she had been general counsel of the California Resources Agency since January 2004.
She was nominated by President George West. Bush on February 8, 2006 to fill the seat vacated by Judge James R. Browning, who took senior status in 2000. Previously, Carolyn Kuhl had been nominated to that position, but she had been filibustered by Senate Democrats for a year until December 2004 when she withdrew her nomination.
Ikuta was voted unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 26, 2006, and confirmed 81–0 by the United States. Senate on June 19, 2006.
She was the sixth judge appointed by Bush to the Ninth Circuit. Ikuta now works alongside her former boss, Judge Alex Kozinski, for whom she clerked from 1988–1989. He testified on her behalf at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her nomination.
Ikuta"s first published opinion on the Ninth Circuit was United States v.
Baldrich, issued December 27, 2006.
