Doris Ling-Cohan


Doris Ling-Cohan is a former justice of the New York State Supreme Court, to which she was elected in 2002; she is the first woman of Asian descent to attain that position. In 2014, Justice Ling-Cohan was appointed to the Appellate Term, First Department. She is the first woman of Asian descent to be appointed to an appellate panel in New York state. Ling-Cohan was born in Chinatown, Manhattan, the daughter of Chinese immigrants; her mother was a seamstress and her father was a laundryman. She is the first person in her family to graduate college.

Education

She received a degree in psychology from Brooklyn College, in 1976. She was admitted into New York University's School of Law on a full scholarship, from which she graduated in 1979.

Professional life

Judge Ling-Cohan began her career as an attorney working for several New York Legal Services agencies, including Bedford Stuyvesant Legal Services and Manhattan's MFY Legal Services, and a former board member and officer of OCA-NY. She was the President of National Judicial Council for 5 years.
Brooklyn College has honored Judge Ling-Cohan with its Distinguished Alumna Award, in recognition of her service to New York city as well as her advocacy for immigrants and non-English speakers' rights.The Asian American Bar of New York and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association has similarly honored her.

Same-sex marriage

Judge Ling-Cohan made national news when she handed down a ruling in Hernandez v. Robles, a case in which five gay and lesbian couples had sued New York, arguing that denying them marriage rights violated the state constitution. Ling-Cohan sided with the plaintiffs, and as of February 15, 2005, the ruling was on hold pending the outcome of an appeal filed by the state. See Judge Ling-Cohan's ruling in The decision was subsequently reversed by two appellate courts; however, same-sex marriage in the state of New York became legal on July 24, 2011, under the Marriage Equality Act, which was passed by the New York State Legislature on June 24, 2011 and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on the same day.
When she issued her decision, she was the first and only trial judge in NYS to decide in favor of Marriage Equality and the third in the country, at a time when approximately 1/3 of the country favored Marriage Equality, and consequently she faced death threats.