Kenly Kiya Kato

Kenly Kiya Kato (born 1972) is an American judge who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California since 2023. She previously served as a United States magistrate judge of the same court from 2014 to 2023.

Education Kato is Japanese American; her parents, as children, were among those subjected to internment during World War II. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in political science. She received a Juris Doctor, cum laude, in 1996 from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review.

On February 1, 2022, a hearing was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, Senators Chuck Grassley and Ted Cruz questioned her about a 1995 book review, published in Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review, that Kato had co-written in law school; in a heated dialogue, the two Republicans questioned Kato about a footnote in the book review that said that Asian-American neoconservatives "internalize the dialogue of oppressors, believing in the values of the status quo and condemning the activism of their group." Cruz also questioned her about her views on affirmative action. Her nomination is supported by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the president under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the Senate; she was renominated the same day. On February 9, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by a party-line 11–10 vote. On November 7, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 50–47 vote. Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 51–46 vote. She received her judicial commission on November 17, 2023.