Upon graduation from law school, from 1962 to 1968, Tashima became the DeputyState Attorney General for the State ofCalifornia. He then joined theAmstar Corporation as an attorney in itsSpreckels Sugar Division (1968–1972) and then as the general attorney and vice president ofAmstar from 1972 to 1977. Tashima returned to private practice in 1977, as a partner atMorrison & Foerster, in Los Angeles.[3]
Donald Walden Jr. v. the State of Nevada: On December 23, 2019, Judge Tashima ruled in favor of workers that were not paid for overtime work. In the ruling, Tashima also ruled that a state waives its 11th Amendment rights when taking the case to federal court.[5]
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Barr,No. 19-16487 (9th Cir. Aug. 16, 2019): Judge Tashima partially dissented when the Ninth Circuit held 2-1 that President Trump's asylum ban could take place in New Mexico and Texas but not California or Arizona. Tashima would have blocked the asylum ban in all four states.[6]
Flores v. Barr,No. 17-56297 (9th Cir. Aug. 15, 2019): Judge Tashima was in a unanimous decision (with Marsha S. Berzon and William A. Fletcher) that ruled that detained migrant children must get sleep, soap, and clean water.[7]
the United States v. Neal Bain,No. 17-10107 (9th Cir. June 11, 2019): Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Tashima overturned a conviction for armed bank robbery. He held that the defendant's inadvertent placement of a closed pocket knife on a bank counter did not constitute "armed" bank robbery because this action did not "put[] in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon," which is a requirement for armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d).[8]
On March 8, 2019, Judge Tashima ruled that asylum seekers are entitled to habeas review and have the right to appeal their deportations.[9]
United States v. Sineneng-Smith,No. 15-10614 (9th Cir. Dec. 4, 2018): Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Tashima struck down a statute as unconstitutionally overbroad in violation of the First Amendment. The panel held that 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)—which permits a felony prosecution of any person who "encourages or induces" an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States if the encourager knew, or recklessly disregarded the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law—was unconstitutional because it criminalizes a substantial amount of protected expression in relation to its narrow band of legitimately prohibited conduct and unprotected expression. Tashima wrote, "At the very least, it is clear that the statute potentially criminalizes the simple words – spoken to a son, a wife, a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, a student, a client – 'I encourage you to stay here.'" He also wrote that the statute appeared to apply to statements amounting to "pure advocacy on a hotly debated issue in our society."[10] This decision was unanimously overturned by the US Supreme Court.[11]
González v. Douglas: While sitting by designation in the United States District Court of Arizona, Judge Tashima ruled that Arizona school officials were motivated by racial animus when they acted to shut down a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson's public schools.[12]
Tashima is married and has three children and three grandchildren. He resides in Los Angeles. He is the father ofAcademy Award-winning filmmaker and actorChris Tashima.[13]
^Judicial Conference of the United States. Bicentennial Committee (1978).Judges of the United States. The Committee : for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off. Retrieved2015-07-03.
^"A. Wallace Tashima".Discover Nikkei. Japanese American National Museum. Retrieved2019-06-24.
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