WASHINGTON: Amul Thapar, an Indian-American legal professional, has been appointed a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Donald Trump, the White House has said. Before his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Mr Thapar served on the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Mr Thapar, 48, was confirmed last week by the Senate 52-44 in a vote on party lines. The son of Indian-American immigrants, Mr Thapar was the US’ first Article III judge of South Asian descent.
In addition to his career on the federal bench, Mr Thapar has served as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Mr Trump has nominated 10 judges to lower courts, including Mr Thapar, who is Mr Trump’s first judicial nominee to be confirmed by the Senate, apart from Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Mr Thapar began his legal career in private practice, after clerkships with judge S Arthur Spiegel of the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and Judge Nathaniel R Jones of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College in 1991 and Juris Doctor or JD degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Mr Thapar is a member of the South Asian Bar Association of North America’s (SABA) National Advisory Council, and has served as a keynote for the annual convention and for many of its chapters.
SABA awarded Mr Thapar its Pioneer Award in 2010. He has also taught at the University of Virginia School of Law, Vanderbilt Law School, and the Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law.
