Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong

Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong
Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 7, 2022
Appointed byJoe Biden
Preceded byChristina A. Snyder
Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court
In office
November 17, 2015 – February 7, 2022
Appointed byJerry Brown
Preceded byThomas R. White
Succeeded byAdrian Gidaya Roxas
Personal details
Born
Maame Abena Famanyame Ewusi-Mensah[1]

1976 (age 48–49)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic[2]
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Yale University (JD)

Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong (née Maame Abena Famanyame Ewusi-Mensah; born 1976)[1] is an American attorney serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. She previously served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 2015 to 2022.

Early life and education

Frimpong was born in 1976 in Los Angeles[1] and raised in Los Angeles County, California to Kwaku Ewusi-Mensah and Theodora Ewusi-Mensah, immigrants from Ghana.[3] She attended the Vivian Webb School for Girls, a private boarding school for girls in Claremont, California, graduating as valedictorian of her class in 1993.[4][5]

Frimpong graduated from Harvard University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude. From 1997 to 1998, she was a volunteer computer science teacher at a school in Accra, Ghana. She then attended Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Law & Policy Review. She received a Juris Doctor in 2001.[6]

Career

From 2001 to 2002, Frimpong served as a law clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She then worked as an associate at Morrison & Foerster from 2002 to 2007. From 2007 to 2015, she served in various positions in the United States Department of Justice, including in the Civil Division. In 2015, Frimpong became vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.[7]

In 2015, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Thomas R. White.[2][8]

Federal judicial service

Frimpong during her hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee

On September 8, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Frimpong to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Her nomination helped to fulfill President Biden’s pledge to appoint more female and minority judges; the White House press release announcing her nomination noted that Frimpong “would be the first Black woman to serve on the Ninth Circuit from California, as well as the second Black woman to ever serve on the Ninth Circuit.”[9][10] On September 20, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Frimpong to the seat vacated by Judge Christina A. Snyder, who assumed senior status on November 23, 2016.[11] On October 20, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[12] On December 2, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[13] On December 17, 2021, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 47–24 vote.[14] Her nomination was confirmed later that day by a 46–24 vote.[15] She received her judicial commission on February 7, 2022.[16]

Immigration ruling

On August 1, 2025, Frimpong blocked the Trump administration's "roving" immigration arrests amid its large-scale immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, saying aspects of the operation were unconstitutional.

She ruled that ICE agents were conducting "roving patrols" of the city and coordinating arrests without "reasonable suspicion" that their targets were in the country illegally. She also ruled that they have been relying on improper factors including race, accent, and occupation.[17][18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Brown Names 25 Judges, Seven in Los Angeles". www.metnews.com. November 18, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "Governor Brown Appoints Seven to Los Angeles County Superior Court | Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr". www.ca.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  4. ^ "Meet Judge Maame Frimpong '93". January 25, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  5. ^ "Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong - Top Ghanaian-American legal brain tasked to solve Ghana's power crisis | National Black Lawyers".
  6. ^ "Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong for Los Angeles County Superior Court in California". Trellis. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  7. ^ Ennin, Richard (September 10, 2021). "Biden nominates Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong for Central District of California Court". Ghana News Agency. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  8. ^ "President Biden Names Seventh Round of Judicial Nominees". The White House. September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  9. ^ "A FAIRER COURT: How President Biden and Congress Raised the Bar in 2021" (PDF). Alliance for Justice. December 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  10. ^ "President Biden Names Seventh Round of Judicial Nominees". The White House Briefing Room. September 8, 2021. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  11. ^ "Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. September 20, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. ^ "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. October 20, 2021.
  13. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 2, 2021" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  14. ^ "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong to be U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California)". United States Senate. December 17, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  15. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, of California, to be U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California)". United States Senate. December 17, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  16. ^ Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  17. ^ www.politico.com: Federal judge blocks 'roving' immigration arrests amid Los Angeles crackdown
  18. ^ Case No. 2:25-cv-05605-MEMF-SP (pdf)
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