{"id":74334,"date":"2025-07-30T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T19:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74334"},"modified":"2025-07-30T12:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T19:58:18","slug":"padilla-questions-9th-circuit-nominee-eric-tung-on-sexist-comments-narrow-legal-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74334","title":{"rendered":"Padilla Questions 9th Circuit Nominee Eric Tung on Sexist Comments, Narrow Legal Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/syAXLhUaj_0\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/youtu.be\/syAXLhUaj_0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1753985180525000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Qrghl7PwsHfWjvA5gmP7G\">WATCH<\/a>: Padilla warns of Trump\u2019s pattern of nominating extremely partisan ideologues to the bench<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed Eric Tung, nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, headquartered in San Francisco, on his extreme conservative ideology, including his past public comments decrying \u201cradical feminists try[ing] to blur gender roles\u201d and his role leading anti-labor protests pushing messages including \u201cend mandatory maternity leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During Tung\u2019s nomination hearing, Padilla underscored the concerning pattern of Republicans confirming partisan ideologues as the Supreme Court and conservative judges continue to erode public trust through extreme rulings that break longstanding legal precedent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both Padilla and Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) previously opposed the nomination of Tung, and instead recommended Republican judges previously nominated by President Trump to the district court. The Trump Administration\u2019s refusal to meaningfully consult with home\u2011state Senators on these nominees follows a pattern of bypassing of the Senate\u2019s advice\u2011and\u2011consent duty, including Trump\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.padilla.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/padilla-schiff-statement-on-trumps-power-grab-to-keep-partisan-u-s-attorney-in-place\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.padilla.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/padilla-schiff-statement-on-trumps-power-grab-to-keep-partisan-u-s-attorney-in-place\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1753985180525000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3kVVZuint4fezs_HHLkpmM\">recent power grab<\/a>\u00a0to keep Bill Essayli empowered as top prosecutor for the Central District of California.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Padilla also slammed Tung for lacking the necessary trial litigation experience to serve a lifetime appointment as a judge. Tung has never served as the sole or lead counsel in a case tried to verdict or to judgment from the bench, and he estimates that only 10 percent of his work has been on criminal cases.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>\u201c<strong><u>I\u2019m opposed because Mr. Tung believes in a conception of the Constitution that rejects equality and liberty,<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0and that would turn back the clock and continue to exclude vast sections of the American public from enjoying equal justice under the law.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>\u201cIn just the last few years, we\u2019ve seen what extreme, conservative ideology has done to erode public trust in institutions like the judiciary, including and especially the Supreme Court, as long-established legal precedents have taken a back seat to whatever novel conservative legal approach accomplishes the desired political outcome.\u00a0<strong><u>By continuing to confirm extreme ideologues to the federal bench, the Senate would be doing California and the American people a deep disservice.<\/u><\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>\u201cDuring the first six months in office, Donald Trump has mounted a historic attack on our nation\u2019s justice system. He\u2019s tried to\u00a0<strong><u>remake the Department of Justice and even the federal bench in his own image, rewarding those who have demonstrated their loyalty to him over the rule of law.<\/u><\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/L-oJDoWzdqY\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/youtu.be\/L-oJDoWzdqY&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1753985180525000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0lAtL3XiQCzxxKVal1YGcK\">questioning<\/a>, Padilla blasted Tung for his past sexist comments and criticism of the \u201cwelfare state\u201d and \u201cdissolution of the family.\u201d Tung has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/yaledailynews.com\/blog\/2004\/02\/18\/speaker-calls-for-renewed-womens-rights-movement\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/yaledailynews.com\/blog\/2004\/02\/18\/speaker-calls-for-renewed-womens-rights-movement\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1753985180525000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1TcW4-1wfaHYpyvkEoj1Wx\">said he believes<\/a>\u00a0\u201cin gender roles and that women are simply better than men at some things. When these radical feminists try to blur gender roles, they undermine institutions like marriage \u2014 institutions which hold society together.\u201d Tung dodged Padilla\u2019s questioning on his past comments and refused to say when his viewpoints changed on women\u2019s role in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><strong>PADILLA:<\/strong>\u00a0Mr. Tung, can you list for us the things that you believe women are \u201csimply better at than men?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><strong>TUNG:<\/strong>\u00a0Senator, again, the comments you\u2019re referencing, and captured by a Yale Daily News reporter, were captured over 20 years ago when I was an undergraduate in college.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><strong>PADILLA:<\/strong>\u00a0I understand that, but that was 2006 not 1956. Even the year 2006, I don\u2019t think the country\u2019s mood level and the law was what you\u2019re suggesting here. \u2026 Do you still believe that women should stay home and not go out into the workplace?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><strong>TUNG:<\/strong>\u00a0Senator, the suggestion that I think women should not be provided with the same professional opportunities as men is inaccurate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><strong>PADILLA:<\/strong>\u00a0So at what point in the last 20 years, not 50 or 60, just in the last 20 years, did your mind change on this?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><strong>TUNG:<\/strong>\u00a0Senator, my views on policy matters and sociological matters that you\u2019re referencing again, are the subject of wide debate, and for that reason, as a nominee sitting here today before the committee, I cannot answer under judicial canons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Padilla also questioned Tung on his leadership of an anti-Labor Day protest and attacks against workers. At Yale, Tung was the president of a group called \u201cthe Committee for Freedom\u201d that organized a protest on Labor Day, with protesters pushing messages including \u201cend mandatory maternity leave \u2014 it hurts women,\u201d and\u00a0\u201cworkers of the world, get back to work!\u201d Tung told the Yale campus that \u201cunionized labor hurts consumers,\u201d while proudly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.padilla.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tung-Union-No.png\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.padilla.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tung-Union-No.png&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1753985180525000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0FoLqEU6gQvhJt4IZtFbu7\">holding a sign<\/a>\u00a0that read \u201cUnion NO.\u201d Padilla questioned how individuals with questions about labor law could trust Tung as a judge given his harsh anti-labor viewpoints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WATCH: Padilla warns of Trump\u2019s pattern&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74335,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74334\/revisions\/74335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}