Emigre Is Named O.C. Jurist

Marking a milestone that reflects the area’s growing diversity, Gov. Gray Davis on Friday appointed the first Vietnamese American to the Orange County Superior Court.

“I look forward to serving the people of Orange County,” said Nho Trong Nguyen, 61, a former pro-democracy leader in South Vietnam and war refugee who earned his law degree at night while holding other jobs.

“Public service was always my highest calling. It shows that in America, in this land of freedom, you can achieve whatever you set out to do with hard work and dedication,” he added.

Nguyen, now a deputy state attorney general, will work at the West Justice Center in Westminster. He is the third Asian American to join the bench in the county, home of one of the fastest-growing Asian American communities in the country and the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam.

In Little Saigon and elsewhere, people saw the appointment as another sign of the local Vietnamese community’s prominence in Orange County.

“It is a big honor for the entire community,” said Westminster Councilman Tony Lam, the nation’s first Vietnamese American elected official. “We need representatives in all branches of government.”

State Sen. Joseph Dunn (D-Santa Ana) who encouraged Nguyen to apply for the appointment, called the attorney “pragmatic and fair.”

“He has what I believe a broad base viewpoint of our community because of his diverse background,” Dunn said.

Nguyen, a Rowland Heights resident, was a member of South Vietnam’s National Assembly from 1967 to 1975, at the height of the Vietnam War. As a government official, Nguyen, his wife and three children were among the few who had clearance to leave the country as the Communists were poised to take the south’s capital, Saigon.

However, during the bus trip to the airport, Nguyen yelled for the driver to stop. He begged for his wife’s forgiveness and got off the bus.

“I just could not go,” he said Friday. “I was a congressman. I couldn’t leave my people. I didn’t want to leave my native land.”

Four days later, he did not have choice, he said. As the Communists quickly entered Saigon, he boarded one of the last helicopters leaving from the American Embassy. He was reunited with his family at Camp Pendleton 16 days later.

To see his family again after not knowing what had become of them was “an unbelievable feeling,” he said.

The family first settled in Glendora and, in 1982, he became a U.S. citizen. He joined the State Attorney General’s office in 1995.

He will report to Orange County Presiding Judge Robert Jameson on Tuesday to take up his new position.

His appointment, Nguyen said, brings him full circle. After being banished from the country he pledged to serve, he now finds the opportunity to serve in his new country.

“I will bring to the bench my life experience and I hope that I will be a fair, impartial and compassionate judge,” he said. “It is a tremendous responsibility.” Nguyen fills the vacancy left after Davis appointed former Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Leary to the 4th District Court of Appeal. Local officials welcomed Friday’s move as a step toward making government more representative.

Jameson praised the appointment.

“It’s important that we have a diverse bench,” he said. “Having a Vietnamese judge with such a significant Vietnamese population bodes very well for us.”

Of the county’s 107 judges, at least 10 are now ethnic minorities, according to officials. Six of them are Hispanic, three are Asian, and one is black. The two other Asian judges are of Chinese and Japanese ancestry, officials said.

Earlier this month, an all-white grand jury was replaced by one of the most diverse panels in county history, a 19-member jury that is 40 percent minority and includes two Vietnamese Americans.

Nguyen is the fourth Vietnamese-American to serve as a state or federal judge nationally.

“This is what it’s all about,” said Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett, appointed to the bench in 1997 and the first Vietnamese American to hold a judicial post in the state. “This is what we have struggled for after nightmarish experiences on the high seas, years at refugee camps, and the struggles to assimilate in a new society. So that our children and grandchildren will have this opportunity.”

Michelle Mai Nguyen, president of the Vietnamese American Bar Assn., agreed.

“This will be an inspiration for all in the community and for young Vietnamese Americans,” she said.