O.C. Legal Forces Push for Their Own Federal Judge

Orange County judges and lawyers have mounted a strong campaign to see that one of their own is appointed to a coveted lifetime post of federal judge in Santa Ana, and by many accounts, it appears they will succeed.

Sources close to the super-secret judicial nomination process said this week that Superior Court Judge Gary L. Taylor, 50, a rare third-generation Orange County resident, is leading the pack of candidates to become the newest federal judge in California’s Central District.

The effort is part of the local legal community’s mounting campaign to increase Orange County’s presence on the state and federal benches throughout California.

Not long ago, the Orange County Bar Assn. sent a tart letter to Gov. George Deukmejian, complaining that he appointed too few state judges from Orange County. The bar is also pressing a federal lawsuit against the state to force the addition of more judges to ease what they call a staggering caseload in Orange County Superior Court.

The federal court in Santa Ana is part of the sprawling, seven-county federal judicial district that is based in Los Angeles. Of the 12 federal judges chosen for seats in that district during Sen. Pete Wilson’s tenure, only one judge, Alicemarie H. Stotler--who occupies one of two judges’ positions in the new federal courthouse in Santa Ana--came to the bench from Orange County.

And with the long-awaited federal courthouse in Santa Ana now open, much of the legal community feels that it is logical to have the second seat there occupied by judge or lawyer from Orange County.

Much of the legal community’s effort is aimed at Sen. Wilson, who is the state’s only Republican senator and thus plays a crucial role in selecting federal judicial candidates to be nominated by President Bush.

Wilson declined to discuss the selection process, but Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said Wilson “shares the concern” of the local legal community that an Orange County resident should be appointed to the federal post. Cox added that he and other local congressmen have been pushing for more Orange County representation on the state and federal benches.

“Orange County’s growth has not been reflected in (judgeships in) the state and federal courts,” Cox said. “It’s a question of whether a county of more than 2 million people will still be treated as a suburb of Los Angeles.”

Prominent local lawyers said the push for an Orange County nomination reflects a desire to see someone local rewarded with a political plum and to have Orange County recognized as not a suburb of Los Angeles but a talent-rich region that does not need judges “imported” from other areas.

And one legal source noted, in a more cynical vein, that those working for the nomination may have something to gain as well: the “kingmakers,” as he put it, wind up with better political connections if they succeed in bringing a judge to the bench.

One local prominent lawyer said that although Wilson has not made his final decision, Taylor’s name has “become practically synonymous” with the appointment.

“Anyone I talk to, no one else’s name is ever mentioned for that slot,” the attorney said. “It’s always, ‘When Taylor is appointed,’ or ‘When Gary gets on the bench.’ ”

The attorney, like most judges and lawyers interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the traditional shroud of silence over the nomination process.

Several lawyers said they had picked up intimations from judges close to the selection process that the next federal vacancy would be filled from Orange County and that Taylor was “pretty much a sure bet”--as one attorney put it--for the $89,500-a-year judgeship.

The new appointee to the spot in the 21-month-old Santa Ana courthouse will replace U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts, who plans to return to his previous post in the federal courthouse in Los Angeles.

Wilson has received a list of candidates who were evaluated and ranked by his eight-member judicial screening committee and is studying them before recommending one person to the White House, a move expected in the next few months, according to James J. Lee, Wilson’s state press secretary.

But knowledgeable sources confirmed that Taylor and two Los Angeles Superior Court judges, Dzintra Janavs and Lourdes Baird, topped the list of about two dozen candidates evaluated by the committee.

Another person privy to the nomination process went a step further, however, saying that Taylor clearly led the pack.

“Everyone (on the screening committee) recognized that Baird and Janavs are absolutely incredible, outstanding judges, but there was a strong Orange County push for Taylor,” the source said. “There are people who’ve been longtime Wilson supporters who would like him to recognize (their) contribution to his campaign success by appointing Orange County people for Orange County positions,” the source said.

Insiders in the legal community said that many judges and lawyers wrote to Wilson urging the appointment of an Orange County practitioner.

“The senator is interested in listening to suggestions from Orange County that the seat go to someone from Orange County,” said another source close to the nomination process.

Thomas R. Malcolm, secretary of the Orange County Bar Assn., said the county’s legal community has undertaken a “concentrated effort” to ensure that the opening is filled by a local judge or lawyer.

The local bar association endorsed Taylor in a letter to San Diego attorney John G. Davies, Wilson’s friend and former law partner who advises him on judicial appointments.

Michael H. Gazin, president of the Orange County Bar Assn., said that members of Wilson’s screening committee approached the organization with one name only--Taylor’s--and asked for the group’s opinion. The bar responded with a unanimous endorsement, Gazin said.

The Orange County chapter of the Federal Bar Assn. and the Lincoln Club, an influential Republican political-action group based in Orange County, have also endorsed Taylor.

Ira Goldman, who is legal counsel to Wilson and coordinates the evaluation process for judicial candidates, would not discuss the contenders, but he said the plea to appoint someone from Orange County came through loud and clear. The feedback trickled in through members of the screening committee, as well as from Orange County congressmen whom Goldman would not identify.

“They’ve let us know in a forceful way that’s also been appropriately put,” Goldman said. “There’s a great deal of truth in what they say. It was a well-expressed point of view. We are taking it into consideration.”

Taylor spent 20 years in private practice in Newport Beach, specializing in business litigation, before he was appointed to the Superior Court by Deukmejian in June, 1986. A Republican, Taylor devotes much of his time off the bench to speaking and writing about business law. Colleagues describe him as cheerful, hard-working, scholarly, fair and conscientious.

Otto Bas, a longtime Wilson aide, said it is not uncommon for communities to press for one of their own to ascend to the bench.

“It’s because they’re familiar with the people, they understand the community and what makes it tick,” he said. “There’s a sense of pride that (a local person) can serve in a judicial capacity. There’s also the stepchild mentality, the idea that fast-growing communities have been overshadowed by the big, urban downtown and there’s a sense of coming of age.”

Goldman said Orange County lawyers and judges want someone who is “geographically comfortable” sitting in Santa Ana. Stotler, who was appointed to the federal bench in Los Angeles, offered to transfer to Santa Ana when the federal courthouse opened there in January, 1988, because she lives in Orange County.

But most other federal judges who work in Los Angeles live there, too, and were reluctant to undertake the long commute to Santa Ana. To fill the need for a second judge in the new courthouse, Letts volunteered to drive from his home in Rolling Hills until another judge was appointed to take his place.

Another reason to appoint a local lawyer or judge for the vacancy, some sources said, is the possibility that a new federal judicial district will be created from Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which are currently covered by Los Angeles’ sprawling Central District. The new district, which would be based in Santa Ana, has been proposed by Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton).

“It’s hard to be a carpetbagger down there,” said U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who sits in the federal court in Los Angeles. “I can see that (Orange County) would want someone with a permanent commitment to Orange County.”