By Ted Lieu
Member
California State Assembly

Before coming to the Assembly, I was a practicing attorney for over ten years. I have experienced first-hand how clogged our court system is, and understand the desperate need for more judges to hear cases and relieve that backlog.

So it was with a heavy heart that I joined with Assemblymembers Joe Coto, Mervyn Dymally, and Alberto Torrico in a letter requesting that the Legislature’s leaders cut $27 million from the Budget meant to fund 50 new judgeships. These judges were to be the second installment of a total of 150 judges over three years.

So why did we do it? The four members who signed the letter represent the leaders of the Legislature’s Latino Caucus (which Assemblymember Coto chairs), Black Caucus (which Assemblymember Dymally chairs), and Asian Pacific Islander Caucus (which Assemblymember Torrico currently chairs, and I will next session). Governor Schwarzenegger’s record in appointing judges who represent these three minority groups is, in a word, dismal.

Since he took office in late 2003, Governor Schwarzenegger has had the opportunity to appoint 260 new judges. Of that group, only 4.6% have been Asian Pacific Islander (12); 5.8% have been African American (15); and 8.5% have been Latino (22). Those numbers pale in comparison to the diversity that makes up our Golden State. According to the U.S. Census, 12.6% of Californians are Asian Pacific Islander; 6.7% are African American; and 35.2% are Latino. Also, less than one-third of the appointments have been women. This data clearly demonstrates the indisputable fact that, taken as a whole, the judges appointed by this Governor do not reflect the diversity of California.

And it’s not like there are a lack of qualified candidates. Among practicing attorneys in California, there are more than 10,370 Asian Pacific Islanders; more than 3,320 African Americans; and more than 7,430 Latinos.

The leaders of the three caucuses have done our level best to help the Governor’s administration find qualified candidates. We have encouraged minority attorneys to apply for judgeships, helped walk them through the process, and recommended the candidates we felt were the most qualified.

The result? The Governor’s record has actually gotten worse in many respects.

The Governor’s last round of judicial appointments occurred on June 22, 2007, in which he appointed 26 new judges. Three of those appointments filled vacancies and 23 were available only because of the 50 new positions from last year’s budget. Of the 26 judicial appointments, none were Asian Pacific Islander and only one was Latino. These appointments increasingly diverge from California’s diversity.

Indeed, recent projections indicate that the Asian Pacific Islander and Latino populations will double in California in the coming decades. The fact that the Governor has used the newly created judicial positions to make appointments that are even less diverse than before is unacceptable.

Judicial diversity is a critically important issue not just for this budget year, but for years to come. Because judges rarely, if ever, lose their positions once they are appointed, the Governor’s actions will shape the face of our judicial branch for decades. The Governor’s appointments unfortunately have already locked into place a judicial branch that looks nothing like California. The situation should not be allowed to get worse.

In this tough budget year, I strongly believe the $27.2 million can be better spent on other items, and should not be used to enable the Governor to continue the stunning lack of diversity in our third branch of government.

If the 50 new judgeships for this year stay in the Budget, the three caucuses are going to be watching every appointment the Governor makes this year. If the record doesn’t get better, we’ll make killing funding for the last 50 judges our top priority for next year.
This issue isn’t just going to go away, and neither will we.

Assemblymember Ted Lieu represents the communities of El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Venice, Westchester and parts of West Los Angeles. He currently serves as Chair of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee. Lieu graduated from Stanford University in 1991 earning a bachelor's of science in computer science and a bachelor of arts in political science. In 1994, he graduated with a juris doctorate with honors from Georgetown University Law Center where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.