Courthouse Renamed In Westminster

WESTMINSTER, CA — The West Justice Center courthouse in Westminster will be named after a groundbreaking Asian American attorney in Orange County, officials announced Tuesday.

The courthouse will be named after Stephen K. Tamura, the first Asian American attorney, county counsel and judge in Orange County.

Tamura was also the first Asian American presiding judge in the county as well as the first Asian American appellate court justice in the continental United States.

Tamura opened his legal practice in Santa Ana in 1938 after graduating from what is now known as the UC Berkeley School of Law. He and his family were interned in 1942 at the Poston Internment Camp in Arizona. He was released in 1943 to study at Harvard School of Law.

Tamura enlisted in the Army in 1945, serving in Italy with the 442nd Infantry Regiment, which was composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry. It is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history, receiving more than 18,000 awards in less than two years, including 9,486 Purple Hearts and 4,000 Bronze Star medals.

Tamura was appointed as an Orange County Superior Court by Gov. Pat Brown in 1961 and elevated to the Court of Appeal in 1966 by Brown, serving until his retirement in 1981.

Tamura also served as justice pro tem on the state Supreme Court. He was a member of the California Judicial Council from 1979-81. He died in 1982.

"It was a real privilege to submit the application to name West Justice Center in honor of the late judge," said Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Kirk Nakamura.

"He was a man of many 'firsts' and I am very proud to have followed his footsteps to the bench."

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.