Jill Otake’s Nomination Unanimously Approved by Senate Judiciary Committee
U.S. District Court Nominee Will Now Be Considered by Full Senate
Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) urged her colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee to support Jill Otake’s nomination to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii in a Committee markup today. Ms. Otake’s nomination was approved by the Committee unanimously, and will now be considered by the full Senate.
From Senator Hirono’s remarks:
“As you saw during [Ms. Otake’s] confirmation hearing, she respects the rule of law and has given serious thought to how she would approach her work as a judge. She is exactly the type of nominee this President, or any president, should be nominating for every district court vacancy.
“She will serve the litigants who come before her in federal court in Hawaii with distinction, and I recommend without hesitation that she be confirmed for this position.”
Jill Otake currently serves as an Assistant United States Attorney and as the Acting Chief of the Special Crimes Section in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii, having previously served as Deputy Chief. Prior to joining the office in 2014, she spent nine years as an Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Supervisor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, where she also served as Co-Supervisor of the General Crimes Unit and Deputy Supervisor of the Terrorism and Violent Crimes Unit. During this period, she served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Seattle University School of Law.
Before becoming an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Otake spent six years as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in King County, Washington. Ms. Otake was born and raised in Hawaii. She is a graduate of Iolani School and served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Simeon R. Acoba, Jr. of the Supreme Court of Hawaii. Ms. Otake earned her B.S., cum laude from Georgetown University and her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law.
