RICHARD NIXON: 1913-1994 : Courts in Nixon’s Home Base Will Stay Open Today : Law: Central District of California, which includes Orange and L.A. counties, won’t close on national day of mourning. The irony isn’t lost on federal officials.

On a national day of mourning for Richard Nixon, federal courthouses and administrative offices throughout the country will be closed today with one conspicuous exception: the Central District of California, which includes Nixon’s home base of Orange and Los Angeles counties.

The irony is not lost on federal officials.

“Several people have said to me, ‘Wait a minute, Nixon was born and raised in this district, he has his library here and he’s going to be buried here,’ ” said one federal prosecutor who spoke on the condition that he not be identified. “And this is the only district anyone can think of that is not closed. What’s the deal?”

President Clinton has declared today one of national mourning and closed Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and all federal offices. Regular mail delivery also was halted. Clinton left the decision to close each federal district or circuit court to the particular chief judge in charge.

The Times contacted federal district courts headquartered in New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco. Except for Denver, all were scheduled to be closed, but the chief judge in each district gave judges the option of conducting business.

“I urge that you close (today) absent some compelling reason to continue to conduct business,” wrote Chief U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders, who runs the Northern District Court of Texas.

In the Central District of California, however, which includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and five others in Southern California, Chief Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. said he was keeping the courts open as usual but offered to let any judge take the day off. The clerk’s office, he said, would be open between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Contacted in South Florida, where he is attending a convention of clerks and chief judges, Byrne said he had polled some of the district judges before making his decision.

“The judges wanted to remain open,” he said.

Some court officers have wondered privately whether Byrne’s action had anything to do with his involvement with Nixon in the Pentagon Papers case 21 years ago. Byrne declared a mistrial in the case against Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony J. Russo, two RAND Corp. researchers charged with stealing the papers, a classified study of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

Before the trial ended, Byrne said he had been contacted twice by John D. Ehrlichman, Nixon’s domestic adviser, about his interest in becoming head of the FBI. At the time, some wondered whether Nixon was trying to influence the outcome of the case.

Byrne said Tuesday that his decision had nothing to do with the Pentagon Papers case.

His colleagues agreed, saying they had business to conduct today.

“There are a lot of courtrooms in which there is a trial in progress,” said Judge Gary L. Taylor, a Bush appointee who is assigned to the federal courthouse in Santa Ana. “It costs you thousands and thousands of dollars a day. To go dark for a day would be a hardship. Nixon wouldn’t want us to do that.”

About two-thirds of the district’s courtrooms will be active today, officials said.

For example, the civil trial of Rodney G. King vs. the city of Los Angeles will be in session, as per the decision of Judge John G. Davies, a Reagan appointee.

A jury will conduct deliberations in a trial before Judge Dickran Tevrizian, also a Reagan appointee.

“I’m going to hold court,” Tevrizian said. “I’m a Republican. I have a calendar I’m trying to get out from under. I’ve been in trial for about eight months continuously. . . . It’s nothing disrespectful at all. There are priorities here.”

But Taylor was closing down for the day because he had no trial.

“Good Lord, this is the garden spot of Nixonia,” he said.