By Aurelio Rojas - Bee Capitol Bureau

Last Updated 12:21 am PDT Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

Charging that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's record on judicial diversity has been deficient and is getting worse, the Legislature's minority caucuses are urging that funding for new judges be deleted from the budget.

Democrats have been pressuring the Republican governor since last year to make the judiciary better reflect the state's diverse population -- and the round of appointments he made last month only raised their ire.

Of those 26 appointments, announced on a Friday as the Capitol was emptying for the weekend, none were of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, one was Latino and three were African Americans.

"If the administration was proud of the appointments, why were they announced when they were?" said Assemblyman Ted Lieu, a Torrance Democrat and the incoming chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.

Last week, the leaders of the Asian Pacific Islander, black and Latino caucuses sent a letter to legislative leaders of both parties asking them to reject Schwarzenegger's request for 50 more judgeships.

"While we support increasing the number of judges ... we believe an additional 50 judgeships for this year should not be authorized until the governor addresses the diversity issue," the joint statement said.

Of the 260 judges Schwarzenegger has appointed since taking office in 2003, 4.6 percent have been Asian Americans, according to caucus leaders. Another 5.8 percent have been African Americans and 8.5 percent Latinos.

The 50 new judgeships, which would be funded by $27.2 million in the proposed budget, are the second installment of the governor's three-year plan to add 150 new judges.

Angered by the ethnic makeup of Schwarzenegger's judicial appointments, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, last year cut the number to 25.

Núñez relented as part of a compromise to get a funding bill passed after the governor agreed to work for greater diversity on the bench.

The speaker's legal counsel, Fredericka McGee, said Núñez "continues to be upset" by Schwarzenegger's judicial appointments.

"There are a lot of outstanding issues in the budget," McGee said. "Who knows whether this would hold up the budget or not?"

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 44 percent of California's population is white, 35 percent is Hispanic, 12 percent is Asian and 6.7 percent is black.

As California becomes more diverse, Lieu said, it is imperative the judiciary reflect that diversity to ensure the public's trust in the legal system.

Legal experts and the Schwarzenegger administration acknowledge the disparity but say changing the numbers is a monumental challenge.

Part of the governor's challenge, they say, has been the pool of applicants. Membership in the State Bar is almost 85 percent white and two-thirds male.

More than 70 percent of the state's judiciary is white, and close to 73 percent are men, according to the Judicial Council of California.

Like other California governors, Schwarzenegger has shown a proclivity for appointing prosecutors to the bench; 17 of his 26 recent judicial appointees were prosecutors.

Minority leaders say the governor needs to expand his reach. Assemblyman Joe Coto, chairman of the Latino Legislative Caucus, said there are many qualified candidates who would make good judges among the more than 10,000 Asian American, 7,400 Latino and 3,300 African American lawyers in the state.

Coto, D-San Jose, said he has recommended several candidates to the administration without success and met with Sharon Majors-Lewis, the governor's judicial secretary.

Majors-Lewis, a former San Diego prosecutor who is African American, was hired in February and has been traveling the state encouraging qualified minorities to apply.

"(She) is diligently working on interviewing applicants that are the most qualified for the position and that represent California's rich diversity," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Gena Grebitus.

But Christopher Arriola, judicial projects director for the California La Raza Lawyers, which advocates for judicial diversity, is not convinced the administration is committed to the issue.

"I hope they're serious, but looking at the last round of appointments, I'm not feeling very optimistic," Arriola said.

Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine said the issue should not be part of the budget discussion because the governor's minority appointments exceed their percentage of the State Bar.

"You've got to compare it to bar membership," Ackerman said. "You can't compare it to the general population."

But Assemblyman Dave Jones, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, said the governor's appointments should be part of the budget debate.

"My hope would be that we fund the judges and the governor does a better job of making appointments," said Jones, D-Sacramento.

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the group will discuss the issue when it meets today.

Dymally, D-Compton, was first elected to the Legislature is 1962. No governor's judicial appointments, he said, have ever reflected the state's diversity.

"You have to keep reminding these governors that law enforcement isn't all white, male deputy district attorneys," he said.