To replace Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru who left the EEOC in April, the President recently nominated Jenny R. Yang, an NYU Law graduate who is a partner in a firm that represents plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases.

From 1998 to 2003 she was in the employment litigation section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and currently serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center.

Her nomination must now go to the Senate, which, in today’s political climate, means that she is hardly assured confirmation.