Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Abstract

Judge Patel is known as a judge of the greatest independence and integrity, and her opinions reflect both her concern with the judicial craft and her inspiring commitment to justice and fairness. During her tenure on the Northern District of California, she has issued a series of landmark decisions: she vacated the conviction of a Japanese-American man who had resisted being placed in government internment camps during World War II; boldly declared the gas chamber to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment; ensured the integration of the San Francisco Fire Department; handed down a famous decision in the Napster case, setting in motion a course that altered the future of the distribution of music on the Web; and demanded that retailers provide services for the legally blind in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her extraordinary and influential jurisprudence has been marked by a commitment to helping all people receive fair treatment under the law and by dedication to the principle that the law should ensure that opportunities are promoted, not denied.

Publication Citation

34 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1-2 (2007)

Download

Included in

Judges Commons

Share

COinS