[6][7] Growing up, Du and her family lived in a number of places across the United States, including Winfield, Alabama,[4] where her father worked on a dairy farm.

[3][4] On August 2, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Du to replace Judge Roger L. Hunt, who assumed senior status.

[9] Du's nomination and confirmation were strongly supported by Nevada's two U.S. senators, Harry Reid (Democrat) and Dean Heller (Republican),[5][10] as well as the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

[11] As a new district judge, Du initially worked in Las Vegas, but after about a year transferred her chambers to Reno,[4] where she remains based.

[4] Du served as chief judge of the court during the coronavirus pandemic, during which all federal trials and naturalization ceremonies in the judicial district were postponed.

[15] In 2016, Du granted a preliminary injunction sought by members of two Nevada Native American tribes (the Pyramid Lake Paiute and Walker River Paiute), compelling the Washoe County registrar to set up early voting polling places at the tribes' reservations (in Nixon and Schurz), and to set up an Election Day polling place at Nixon.

Du denied the plaintiffs' request to require the state to set up in-person voter registration locations at the reservations, holding that the tribes lacked standing to seek that form of relief.

[23] In 2015, Du denied a request by a number of rural Nevada counties, mining companies, and ranchers seeking a preliminary injunction to block a U.S. Department of the Interior policy that restricted development on federal lands in Nevada and eastern California to protect the greater sage grouse.

[24] Du held that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate imminent, irreparable harm, a prerequisite for obtaining a preliminary injunction.

[30][31] In 2015, Du granted the habeas petition of Jose Echavarria, a death row inmate convicted of killing an FBI agent during a bank robbery in 1991.

[33][35] Du also presided over the criminal case against a doctor and hospital executive from Winnemucca in rural Nevada who illegally wrote prescriptions for opioids without a medical purpose.

[38][39][40] The guards allege that they are entitled to payment for tasks (such as debriefings, equipment collection, and uniform inspections) completed just before their shifts officially begin.

"[41][43] In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada, Du denied a church's request for an emergency injunction that would allow it to exceed a 50-person cap on religious gatherings imposed by Governor Steve Sisolak to slow the spread of COVID-19.