A Case for Judicial Restraint

Judge Maxine F. Thomas is no longer presiding judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court. She should gracefully relinquish the title, duties and trappings of the office so that the 80 municipal judges can focus their full attention on felony preliminary hearings, traffic cases, misdemeanors, small civil cases and the other business of the court.

For months the judges have been preoccupied with Thomas. They have justly criticized her for rewarding her supporters with choice assignments and for penalizing others. They have accurately accused her of putting her ambition ahead of her duties. They have rightly questioned her judgment, even though she has repaid the cost of her unusually elaborate inaugural ceremony. Finally, they have wisely recalled her.

Although the presiding judge serves at the pleasure of fellow judges, Thomas refuses to abide by the majority’s lack of confidence. She insists that she remains the judge who assigns cases, oversees operations and manages planning for the system. She threatens a lawsuit that will only keep alive the dissension and the rancor. She puts her pride ahead of what is most efficient for the court.

Thomas can better serve the court by relinquishing her pretense of position. She does not have to give up her judicial career. She is 39, which puts youth and vigor on her side. She remains on the bench. Her six-year term as a municipal judge does not end until 1988. And her race continues for a Superior Court position against Burbank Municipal Judge Bernard Kaufman, although the Los Angeles Bar Assn. has rated her “not qualified” for the post because she lacks the “judicial ability and the judgment.”

The new presiding judge, George W. Trammell, has assumed the duties of the position, although Thomas had been prepared, on Friday, to read the master calendar of civil cases, to make assignments to other judges and to continue the confusion.

During her unsuccessful fight to retain the position as presiding judge, Maxine Thomas said that she intended “to bring harmony to the court.” She can best accomplish that goal by stepping firmly aside.