Corona Judge Urged for Federal Bench : Courts: Sen. Feinstein recommends that Clinton nominate appeals Justice Robert Timlin. He would be first U.S. judge from Inland Empire in nearly 10 years.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has recommended to President Clinton that he nominate state appeals court Justice Robert J. Timlin of Corona to be a federal District Court judge in Los Angeles.

Timlin, 61, is expected to win confirmation and become the first federal judge from the Inland Empire in nearly a decade.

Timlin, a Democrat, acknowledged that he had been informed by Feinstein’s staff that she had sent his name to Clinton, but said he would not comment at length “because the appointment process is ongoing.”

Timlin described himself as a judge without “an ideology, philosophy or hidden agenda.” A Catholic, he said he has never handled a case involving abortion-related issues or taken a public position on the issue. However, a source close to Feinstein’s blue-ribbon judicial screening committee said the judge stated that he “believed in the fundamental right to privacy and clearly indicated to the committee he was pro-choice.”

During the last week, the Clinton Administration has come under fire in some quarters after letting it be known that the White House and the Justice Department have decided against ruling out candidates for federal judgeships solely because they have voiced anti-abortion sentiments. Abortion rights leaders have said they consider this a retreat from Clinton’s earlier promises to support a woman’s right to an abortion.

Timlin has been widely praised as a fair and hard-working jurist.

“He is the epitome of what you would want a judge to be. He has an innate desire to do the right thing,” said San Bernardino attorney William D. Shapiro, who said he has won and lost cases before Timlin.

By recommending Timlin, Feinstein honored a virtual commitment she made earlier this year to select a candidate from the Inland Empire, whose Bar associations have been pushing hard for a federal courthouse and a federal judge.

Last year, President Bush signed into law a measure authored by Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton) creating a division of the Central Judicial District of California in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area. Currently, most federal cases stemming from disputes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are heard at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana. The Central District spans seven counties from Riverside to San Luis Obispo.

Inland Empire attorneys anticipate that it will be three to four years before a federal courthouse is built there. It is unclear whether a temporary facility will be instituted earlier, said Terry Bridges, past president of the Riverside County Bar Assn.

When Clinton was inaugurated in January, there were four vacancies on the federal District Court for the Central District. Feinstein and her Democratic colleague, California Sen. Barbara Boxer, forged a power-sharing arrangement in which each would recommend candidates for two of the vacancies. That process has been completed, although it is likely to take several months for the formal nominations and Senate confirmations to be completed.

In addition to Timlin, Feinstein recommended Audrey Collins, the highest-ranking African-American in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, and Boxer recommended Municipal Judge Richard Paez and veteran civil rights lawyer Samuel Paz, both Mexican-Americans. If all four are confirmed, it would add considerable diversity to the District Court, which is predominantly white and male.

After graduating from Georgetown University Law School in 1959, Timlin had a brief stint with a Washington law firm before joining the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department, serving under Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and became an assistant U.S. attorney for two years, prosecuting drug, tax and prostitution cases, among others.

Timlin launched a private practice in Riverside in 1966, handling a wide variety of civil and criminal matters, including serving as contract city attorney for Norco and Corona. During the early 1970s, he served as a part-time federal magistrate in Riverside, presiding over arraignments and issuing warrants.

In 1976, Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. appointed him as a municipal judge in Corona, and in 1980 Brown elevated Timlin to the Superior Court in Riverside. While he was a trial judge, he won praise for his handling of the early phases of the massive Stringfellow toxic-waste case. In 1990, then-Gov. George Deukmejian selected Timlin to be a state appeals court justice in San Bernardino.