Gonzalez Becomes S.D.’s 1st Latino Federal Judge

Irma E. Gonzalez, a San Diego Superior Court judge and former U.S. magistrate, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a seat on San Diego’s federal bench, making her the first Latino federal judge in San Diego history.

The Senate confirmed Gonzalez, 44, late Tuesday night, said Sen. John R. Seymour (R-Calif.), who recommended her in October for the lifetime post on the U.S. District Court for California’s Southern District.

Gonzalez will fill one of two vacancies at the San Diego court, which has been straining for months under an increasing caseload, primarily drug and immigration cases. According to federal statistics, San Diego’s judges have the highest criminal caseload of any federal court in the United States.

“I’m excited and relieved and honored,” Gonzalez said Wednesday. She added: “I believe my qualifications came first. But I also believe that being a Latina was very important.

“I think it’s important for Latinos to have a role model, if you will,” Gonzalez said. “But it’s also important to be a fair judge, no matter who appears in front of me, no matter what cultural or ethnic background a person comes from.”

Latinos account for 20% of San Diego’s city and county populations, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and there are several Mexican-Americans on the Superior and Municipal Court benches--but never in its 25-year history has there been a Latino on the San Diego federal bench. The court serves San Diego and Imperial counties.

“It fills me with immeasurable pride when I speak of Californians who have distinguished themselves in their profession and in their community,” Seymour said in a statement Tuesday. “It is an even greater pleasure to recommend such extraordinary individuals to positions on the federal bench.”

Gonzalez has been a Superior Court judge for about 18 months, hearing cases in Vista and San Diego. For six years before that, she served as a federal magistrate in San Diego, setting bail for accused felons as well as trying misdemeanor cases and a few civil cases.

Before becoming a magistrate, Gonzalez was in private practice from 1981 to 1984 with the San Diego law firm of Seltzer, Caplan, Wilkins & McMahon. She had been a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and Tucson, Ariz., from 1975 to 1981.

She is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Arizona law school.

San Diego lawyer James McIntyre has been nominated for the remaining vacancy on the San Diego bench, but his nomination remains stalled in the Senate.

Plans are for Gonzalez to be sworn in Aug. 24.

Times staff writer James Bornemeier in Washington contributed to this report.