Former Majority Leader Makes Interesting Judicial Candidate

February 20, 2014 By
 
If you’re starting to read tea leaves for the upcoming Superior Court judicial elections, don’t forget to note that
Charles Calderon (photo from www.charlescalderon.com)

Charles Calderon (photo from www.charlescalderon.com)


Charles Calderon, the former majority leader of both the state House and Senate, is running. He naturally has lined up a solid list of political endorsements and will run a higher profile campaign than we’re perhaps accustomed to in picking judges.
 
But perhaps more interesting is his public support from a board member of the Alliance of California judges, an independent judicial group that has been very critical of how the state courts are run. In a story by John Hrabe at calnewsroom.com, Judge Susan Lopez Giss had good things to say.
 
The judge, who reportedly worked with Calderon in the city attorney’s office, said that ” [his] judgeship would afford the citizens of Los Angeles County with the wealth of his experience as an attorney and a legislator.” We will see if he brings any of that Alliance heat to the public square.
 
Check out the story here.
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Praise abounds as MetNews honors presiding judge

February 19, 2014 By
 
It was a praise fest as The Metropolitan News-Enterprise named L.A. Superior Court Presiding Judge David S.
Photo from the Metnews Report on 1/28/14.

Photo from the Metnews Report on 1/28/14.


Wesley as its 2014 “Man of the Year.” In particular, Assistant Presiding Judge Carolyn Kuhl, which the MetNews pointed out is the likely successor to Judge Wesley, lauded the presiding judge for his “leadership in a time of crisis.”
 
The MetNews also honored David Pasternak, a former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association along with his wife, Cynthia Pasternak, who is a past president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.
 

Along with the praise, Judge Kuhl offered a rare look inside the decision-making that resulted in the recent courts reorganization, including how much was not known about the eventual decisions. You can check it out at the MetNews here.

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Judge Backing New Hate-Crime Reporting App

February 18, 2014 By
 
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley is adding a high-profile judicial endorsement to a smartphone app that allows users to easily document and report “hate incidents.” He joins other officials backing the “CombatHate” app, including L.A. Deputy Police Chief Michael Downing.
 
The app was designed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and allows users to instantly and confidentially report a hate crime or online hate-induced activity to the Center, which can determine appropriate next steps. Judge Wesley has previously collaborated with the Museum of Tolerance to extend the Los Angeles Superior Court’s decades-old Teen Court through the Stopping Hate And Delinquency by Empowering Students (SHADES) program, which helps combat “hate incidents and hate crimes” on Los Angeles County’s school campuses.
 
Check out the CBS Los Angeles coverage here. 
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Great New Courthouse Threatened By Budget Woes

February 17, 2014 By
 
Up in Porterville, a San Joaquin Valley community of about 60,000, they have one of those great new courthouses that escaped state judicial budget cuts. It sounds great, described as a “… sparkling new 96,500 square-foot courthouse” with nine courtrooms, holding cells for 85 inmates, solar panels, natural lighting and drought-resistant landscaping. The $93-million facility replaced a much smaller courthouse that had only two courtrooms, making it an important addition to a town experiencing a population boom.”
Tulare County, Porterville Courthouse (photo: www.courts.ca.gov)

Tulare County, Porterville Courthouse (photo: www.courts.ca.gov)

 
One problem though. Local press is quoting the presiding judge saying that budget cuts actually threaten operation of the new facility.  “We are short-handed everywhere you look. We have cut and cut some more,” the presiding judge, Lloyd Hicks, told the local Visalia Times-Delta newspaper. “If we are [to] cut another $2 million, we would be faced with closing the new courthouse.”
 
The story is being reported in a Minneapolis-based news website, the The MintNews. In a story by Matt Heller, a California correspondent, the MintNews takes a good look at the statewide crisis and reports on specific problems, like “… waiting time for mediation in child custody disputes has risen in at least 19 counties, with parents in Stanislaus County having to wait up to 17 weeks, the report said. Some counties have eliminated hearings in small claims disputes and 11 counties told the committee they are no longer able to process domestic violence restraining orders the same day they are filed.”
 
Read the story here.
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L.A. County Eyes Juvenile Justice Overhaul

February 15, 2014 By
 
The Los Angeles County supervisors have voted to study overhauling how juvenile suspects are defended in the county. They are responding to complaints that some juveniles are assigned public defenders while others are represented by contractors known as “panel attorneys” who are paid flat rates of $319 to $345 per case. A Loyola Law School report that looked at 3,000 Los Angeles juvenile cases last year found that people represented by panel attorneys got more severe punishment.
 
The Los Angeles Times story on the issue cited attorney Gary Farwell, who was head of the juvenile panel at Kenyon Juvenile Justice Center until it closed last year, saying that the county should review the resources allocated to juvenile representation, but defended the work of his colleagues. The Times quoted Farwell: “We have hardworking, devoted people who do far more than what they’re paid on many cases. It’s not the people who are the panel attorneys that are the problem. It’s the system of resources available to the panel attorneys that’s the problem.”
 
Read the story here. 
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Push Is On For Latino On State High Court

February 13, 2014 By

 

Supreme Court Justice Joyce L. Kennard (Photo: www.courts.ca.gov)

Supreme Court Justice Joyce L. Kennard (Photo: www.courts.ca.gov)

News this week that Republican Joyce L. Kennard is retiring from the California Supreme Court has already launched a push for diversity on the state high court. The Los Angeles Times is one media outlet taking notice, reporting that “… some Latino groups reacted furiously in 2011 when Brown chose Justice Goodwin Liu, a former UC Berkeley law professor, over Latino candidates. The seven-member court has no Latino or African American member, and Liu, a liberal, is its only Democratic appointee.”

Judge Kennard herself proved controversial in her decades on the court, at least among California conservatives, as she consistently moved to the left of the Republican mainstream. Appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian, a true law-and-order conservative by California standards, she often voted in line with Justice Stanley Mosk, a mostly liberal member.

She leaves the bench in April. Let the speculation begin. Start with the L.A. Times here.

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Chief Justice George’s Memoir Still Gets Noticed

February 11, 2014 By
 
It made some headlines when it was published a few months back, but now some of the long-lead publications are writing about former state Chief Justice Ron George’s “oral self-history” entitled Chief: The Quest for Justice in California. And it’s not always pretty, with a good example coming from the City Journal.
 
After noting that not that many people pay attention to the court system, the Journal says “… but George’s story is significant if only as an illustration of judicial hubris, of how power breeds arrogance, and of how a desire for respect from the establishment leads to activism from the bench.” The piece is written by Mark Pulliam, familiar to many in the courts community for his work as legal issues writer for the California Political Review.
 
It’s a good take on the “King George” book, and you can read it here. 
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South Asian PAC Alleges Racism In L.A. Judge’s Elections

February 10, 2014 By
 
The MetNews is playing it calmly, but a new South Asian Bar Association Political Action Committee is not being shy about alleging racial bias against judges of South Asian decent. Noting that the PAC is “separate” from the bar association, its organizers point to the 2012 race between Judge Sanjay Kumar and Kim Smith, a Hawthorne Deputy City Attorney.
 
PAC organizers say that despite Smith being rated as “not qualified” by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and Kumar being rated “exceptionally well qualified,” the race was closer than they thought it should be. In fact, an attorney and PAC organizer is quoted by MetNews as saying that “… the South Asian community was shocked that this happened.”
 
The group has reportedly been raising money in SoCal and in San Francisco to warn the community of the “political challenges” faced by the situation.  Read the MetNews story here. 
Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: , , , ,

Famous Judge Ito May Not Seek Re-Election

February 7, 2014 By
 
The Metropolitan News Enterprise is posting an “unconfirmed report” that L.A. Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, of O.J. Simpson trial fame, has not filed to seek another term. If that’s true, it will give the famous judge another chance to comment on the justice system; he’s not been shy in the past.
 
For example, in 2012 Ito made written comments accusing the state’s Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) of having adopted a “circle the wagons mentality,” when what it should to is to acknowledge that it “has been run in a deceptive, vindictive and manipulative manner” and get about the business of reform (from the MetNews).
 
The website has a rundown of current court races, with about 30 candidates participating in 11 elections. Thursday was the first deadline for filing to seek a judicial seat, but the election will not be wet until next week because an automatic deadline extension went into effect for about a dozen seats where no incumbent filed for re-election.
 
See the report and a rundown on who is running at MetNews.
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Superior Court Judicial Election Deadline Looms, At Least 11 Seats Expected To Be ‘Open’

February 5, 2014 By
 
ANDREW M. STEIN, photo from his firm's website: www.steindefenselawyer.com

ANDREW M. STEIN, photo from his firm’s website: www.steindefenselawyer.com


A veteran criminal defense attorney and civil rights plaintiff-side attorney intends to buck the prosecutors trend in the upcoming Los Angeles Superior Court election, considering one of “at least 11” open seats to avoid running against an incumbent judge, the MetNews is reporting. The news site noted that Andrew M. Stein said he made the decision to run after eliciting a substantial positive response from “friends, relatives, and colleagues,” including a number of judges, whom he queried by email as to whether he should run.
 
The MetNews added that “… noting that all of the non-incumbents who had filed declarations of intent as ofThursday were deputy district attorneys, Stein said: ‘I love a lot of D.A.s and I have great respect for a lot of D.A.s. But I looked at who was running and they don’t have nearly the experience I have.'”
 
Stein is a sole practitioner and thus lacks the support that comes from a large firm, and the MetNews said that a successful campaign is likely to cost $350,000 or more.This week is a filing deadline that should make it clear which judicial seats are open. You can read the MetNews report, and bookmark it to follow the judicial race, here.
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