Judge Rated ‘Unqualified’ in Bar Survey

The campaign trail for Southeast Municipal Judge Russell R. Schooling has gotten tougher.

The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. recently rated him unqualified to be a jurist.

That compounded another setback suffered earlier this year, when Schooling and two other judges lost a legal battle over their 1984 order requiring court employees to speak only English on the job. A federal court declared it illegal, but Schooling and his colleagues have appealed. So far, Los Angeles County, which is legally obligated to defend its judges, has spent nearly $240,000 on the case.

Schooling’s lone challenger in the June 7 election is Carlos de la Fuente, a private lawyer, one-time court commissioner and public defender. De la Fuente contends that the judges should not have imposed the language rule and said the resulting legal battles have been a waste of county funds.

‘No Legal Standing’

“Just because men wear black robes does not endow them with wisdom,” De la Fuente said in a recent interview. “I think it reflects on his ability to use common sense. It was very clear from the beginning that it had no legal standing.”

Schooling, a former Huntington Park city councilman and a judge since 1977, declined repeated requests for an interview last week.

The judge was the recipient of a stinging evaluation by the Bar group. In 20 county superior and municipal court races being contested in the June 7 primary, only Schooling and two other judges received unfavorable ratings. (Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Henry Patrick Nelson and Los Angeles Municipal Judge Michael Nash also were rated unqualified.)

The association, which based its evaluations on interviews with judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, gives three ratings: “well qualified,” “qualified” and “not qualified.” A 58-member committee performs the evaluations and produces a report on its findings.

Schooling was rated not qualified “because in the committee’s opinion he exhibits bias and lacks judicial temperament necessary to be a judge of the Municipal Court,” the Bar said in its May 11 report.

The association defines bias as behavior “which may be perceived as based on race, sex, sexual preference, national origin, handicap, social status, religion (or) political affiliation.” Judicial temperament includes “fairness and objectivity, courtesy and patience, ethics and courage, compassion and common sense.”

Confidentiality Protected

A Bar official declined to release any further explanation of Schooling’s one-sentence evaluation. Committee Chairman Howard L. Halm said guarantees of confidentiality prevent disclosure of specific complaints against Schooling or problems, if any, that the judge may have had with cases.

“It’s the opinion of one group which may have some knowledge,” Halm said of the Bar review.

In contrast, the association rated De la Fuente “well qualified.”

In addition to working as a court commissioner and public defender, De la Fuente was a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective and an Anaheim city prosecutor. He currently is in private practice.

De la Fuente, who speaks Spanish, said he practiced in front of Schooling in the late 1970s and quickly decided to run against the judge one day.

“I didn’t like the way Judge Schooling ran his court,” De la Fuente said. “I felt indigent defendants were not treated as well as people who had local lawyers. I felt the ones who were most defenseless were the ones who were treated the most harshly.”

Seven attorneys who have handled cases before Schooling and who were interviewed by The Times had mixed reactions toward the Bar Assn.’s evaluation of the judge. Some told The Times that they thought it was unfair, that such evaluations often turn into personality contests and do not accurately gauge a judge’s qualifications. Others welcomed the critical rating and said it would help voters decide what otherwise would have been a race with few obvious issues.

Some of the attorneys, who agreed to comment to The Times only if they were not identified by name, said that Schooling is a fair and meticulous judge. One lawyer described him as a “very intelligent man . . . very tolerant.”

Others, however, said Schooling is temperamental and inconsistent. One accused the judge of racism, and others said he harshly treats indigent defendants. One attorney called Schooling a “Captain Bly” who “verbally abused” and “pushed around” poor defendants.

Tough on Sentencing

When it comes to sentencing, most of the lawyers agreed that Schooling was one of the toughest judges before whom they had worked.

The legal battle over the language issue began in 1984, when Schooling and Judges Porter de Dubovay and John Bunnett changed courthouse rules to forbid employees to speak anything other than English on the job except when acting as translators. The judges issued the rule after an employee complained that she believed co-workers were saying negative things about her Spanish.

A bilingual court clerk, Alva Gutierrez, sued and in 1885 won a preliminary injunction in federal court against the rule.

Last January, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction by U.S. District Judge Richard Gadbois because the rule appeared to violate laws banning discrimination based on national origin. The appeals court rejected the judges’ claims that the rule kept the workplace from becoming a Tower of Babel and that it promoted racial harmony.

Motion for Rehearing

The appeals court is now considering a motion for a rehearing, said lawyer Gregory Petersen, who represents the three judges. Part of the lawsuit remains pending, said a spokeswoman for Gutierrez’s attorney, Gerald Sato. The appeals court said the judges could be required to pay damages if Gutierrez can prove intentional discrimination.

Los Angeles County has paid to defend the judges, which so far has cost $239,361, a spokesman for county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said.

De la Fuente said his ability to speak Spanish would be little advantage in court, where translators are mandatory for non-English-speaking defendants. But he said he would run the courtroom in a more even-handed manner. However, De la Fuente could not cite specific cases where Schooling treated a defendant unfairly.

“It doesn’t matter what color the judge is as long as there’s fairness,” De la Fuente said. “Fairness and professionalism are the important things in a judge.”

Running unopposed for reelection are Southeast Municipal Judges John R. Hopson, De Dubovay and Bunnett. Municipal judges serve six-year terms.