I’ve taken a special interest in following the case of Hong Yen Chang (no known relation to my son-in-law). Mr. Chang arrived in the U.S. in 1872 and graduated from Yale and then Columbia Law School.  Initially, he was refused admission to the New York Bar, but after having obtained a certificate of naturalization, he was admitted and became the only regularly admitted Chinese lawyer in the United States.  He then decided to move to California which had a large Chinese immigrant population in San Francisco.

Having arrived in the Golden State, Mr. Chang sought admission to the California bar.  The California Supreme Court, however, found Mr. Chang’s certificate of naturalization was invalid because “courts are expressly forbidden to issue certificates of naturalization to any native of China” under the federal Chinese Exclusion Act (Act of May 6, 1882, 47th Cong., ch. 126, § 14, 22 Stat. 58, 61).  At the time, California was staunchly opposed to a Chinese immigration.  Only a few years before Mr. Chang’s arrival here, California adopted a new constitution that devoted an entire article (Article XIX) to the Chinese.  Among the many execrable provisions was one that specifically prohibited any corporation or government entity from “employ[ing] directly or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian,” and directed the Legislature to “pass such laws as may be necessary to enforce this provision.”  Cal. Const. Art. XIX, § 2 (repealed).

Mr. Chang never was never admitted to the California bar.  Last year, students at the University of California, Davis School of Law took up his cause and petitioned the California Supreme Court for his posthumous admission.  On Monday, the Supreme Court granted the petition in this order.  Below is the Court’s conclusion:

Even if we cannot undo history, we can acknowledge it and, in so doing, accord a full measure of recognition to Chang’s pathbreaking efforts to become the first lawyer of Chinese descent in the United States. The people and the courts of California were denied Chang’s services as a lawyer. But we need not be denied his example as a pioneer for a more inclusive legal profession. In granting Hong Yen Chang posthumous admission to the California Bar, we affirm his rightful place among the ranks of persons deemed qualified to serve as an attorney and counselor at law in the courts of California.