Shiro Kashiwa

Shiro Kashiwa (October 24, 1912 – March 13, 1998) was the first Attorney General of Hawaii to be appointed after it became a state in 1959. He served as a judge on the United States Court of Claims, then the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. from 1982 to 1986. He was the first Federal judge of Japanese-American descent, and was a member of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism.^[1]

Kashiwa was born in Kohala, Hawaii. He received a B.S. from University of Michigan in 1935, and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi. He received a J.D. from University of Michigan Law School in 1936. He was in private practice of law in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1937 to 1959. He was the first state attorney general of Hawaii, from 1959 to 1963. He was in private practice of law in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1963 to 1969. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney General of the Land and Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice from 1969 to 1972. There he led the Division's first suit against a thermal polluter, oversaw a major case against Armco Steel,^[2] and represented the government at the Supreme Court.

In 1972 Kashiwa was appointed a judge to the United States Court of Claims by President Richard Nixon, to the seat held by James Randall Durfee. By operation of the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982 he was made a judge of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on October 1, 1982. Kashiwa retired on January 7, 1986.

He died in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Notes

Sources

• Shiro Kashiwa at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: A History: 1990–2002 / compiled by members of the Advisory Council to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in celebration of the court's twentieth anniversary. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 2004. LCCN 2004050209. 

Attorneys General of Hawaii
Kingdom of Hawaii 1843–1893	John Ricord Charles Coffin Harris Charles Coffin Harris (acting) Stephen Henry Phillips Albert Francis Judd Alfred S. Hartwell Richard H. Stanley John Smith Walker William Richards Castle Alfred S. Hartwell Edward Preston W. Claude Jones John Smith Walker William Nevins Armstrong Henry A. P. Carter William Nevins Armstrong Edward Preston Walter M. Gibson (acting) Paul Neumann Walter M. Gibson (ad interim) John T. Dare John Lot Kaulukou Antone Rosa Clarence W. Ashford Arthur P. Peterson William Austin Whiting Paul Neumann Charles F. Creighton Cecil Brown Arthur P. Peterson
Provisional Government of Hawaii 1893–1894	William Owen Smith
Republic of Hawaii 1894–1900	William Owen Smith Francis M. Hatch (interim) Henry E. Cooper (interim) William Owen Smith Henry E. Cooper (interim) William Owen Smith
Territory of Hawaii 1898–1959	Henry E. Cooper Edmund Pearson Dole Lorrin Andrews Emil C. Peters Charles R. Hemenway Alexander Lindsay Jr. Wade Warren Thayer Ingram Stainback Arthur G. Smith Harry Irwin John A. Matthewman William B. Lymer Harry P. Hewitt William B. Pittman S. B. Kemp Joseph V. Hodgson Ernest K. Kai J. Garner Anthony Cyrus Nils Tavares Walter D. Ackerman, Jr. Michiro Watanabe Edward N. Sylva Richard K. Sharpless Shiro Kashiwa Herbert Young Cho Choy Jack H. Mizuha
State of Hawaii 1959–present	Jack H. Mizuha Shiro Kashiwa George T. H. Pai Wayne Minami Tany S. Hong Michael A. Lilly Corinne K. A. Watanabe Warren Price, III Robert A. Marks Margery Bronster Earl I. Anzai Mark J. Bennett David M. Louie Doug Chin