Sacramento Native Marks A Judicial First

By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer Newly confirmed Eastern District of California Judge Dena M. Coggins. U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California Sacramento native Dena M. Coggins was confirmed May 22 by the U.S. Senate as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of California, the federal court that covers Sacramento. Coggins will be the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge in the California Eastern District and one of the few Black federal judges in the country. Her confirmation adds to the growing list of non-white and female judges, the most in U.S history, that Joe Biden has appointed during his presidency, the Washington Informer reported. That list includes Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Coggins previously served as an administrative law judge in the general jurisdiction and special education divisions for the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings from 2018 to 2021 and from 2015 to 2017, respectively. Judge Coggins received her bachelor’s from Sacramento State in 2003 and her juris doctor in 2006 from the McGeorge School of Law, where she was the articles editor of the Global Business and Developmental/The Transnational Lawyer...