Diana Song Quiroga

Quiroga was raised in Argentina, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, before immigrating to the United States as a teenager.[2][3] As immigrants with modest means, Quiroga and her family slept on the floors of their rental home as Quiroga and her sisters attended high school and learned English.[4] Quiroga is fluent in Spanish[5] and conversant in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese. Having lived in Laredo, Texas, for over twenty years with her family, she says that her language skills "let[] me experience all the richness of my [South Texas] community."[6]

Quiroga earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, with highest honors[7] and highest distinction in general scholarship,[8] at the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She received her Juris Doctor at Harvard Law School in 2001.

Quiroga began her legal career as a law clerk for United States District Judge Keith P. Ellison of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas from 2001–2002.[9] She then served as Director of Legal Assistance to Micro-enterprises Project, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, during which she received the 2004 U.S. Small Business Administration, Lower Rio Grande Valley District, Women in Business Champion Award. In 2005, she worked as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney on gun cases under "Project Safe Neighborhood," detailed to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Laredo, Texas. From October 2005 until 2011, she worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in that same office and as a prosecutor in the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).[10] In 2007, during her tenure, she won the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and the Federal Bar Association, Southern District of Texas Chapter, Michael T. Shelby Award for Outstanding Dedication, Ethics and Professionalism in the Practice of Law. In 2010 she served as President of the Webb County Women’s Bar Association.

On December 20, 2011, Quiroga was appointed United States Magistrate Judge by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.[11] The seat was vacated when then-United States Magistrate Judge Diana Saldaña was appointed to a district court judgeship.[12] Quiroga's appointment became effective January 4, 2012.[13] She was re-appointed to a second term of eight years on December 13, 2019.[14][15]

While on the bench, Quiroga has served as Immediate Past Chair of the National Conference of Federal Trial Judges of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association.[16] She is current Chair of the Standing Committee on Diversity in the Judiciary of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association (2022–2023).[17] She is a Member of Judicial Council of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Quiroga has also helped bring together the Kazen Fellowship for Laredo high school students to learn about legal careers, now selecting its inaugural summer class.[18][19][20] Of the fellowship's legacy of the late Judge George P. Kazen, Quiroga said: “He showed us that through his faith and love for this community and his love for the rule of law, the fair administration of law, all of us here—the school districts, judges on the state and federal bench—we all love this community and we want to make sure that youth have a path of good options, of good paying careers, that all communities can make better and safer for future generations to come.”[21]

• List of Asian-American jurists