JUDGING GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER

Op-Ed by Jeff Adachi and Kathy Asada (April 2005)

Many members of the San Francisco legal community expressed shock, outrage and disappointment upon learning that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed two Caucasian attorneys to fill the seats vacated by long-time Asian American judges Judge Lenard Louie and Judge Lillian Sing. Even though over a dozen qualified Asian American candidates applied for judgeships, none were seriously considered.

Last year, the Asian American community mourned the passing of Judge Louie, an icon in the Chinese and Asian communities. A trial attorney for the District Attorney for 17 years before being appointed to the bench in 1985, Judge Louie was known as “the emperor of settling cases,” because of his mastery at negotiating and resolving difficult cases with prosecutors and defense lawyers. Judge Lillian Sing --- another community icon --- made history when she was appointed as the first Chinese American woman judge in 1981. Serving as a judge for 22 years, Judge Sing held almost every type of assignment in both criminal and civil courts, and also pioneered Drug Court, where drug addicted persons receive treatment and counseling, before retiring from the bench last year.

It was only 150 years ago that Chinese and Asian Americans were excluded from the legal system altogether. In People v. Hall, decided by the California Supreme Court in 1854, a Chinese man who witnessed a murder identified a white man as the suspect. The Court ruled that a law forbidding a “black or mulatto or Indian” from testifying against a white person applied to persons of Chinese descent. The Court ruled that the Chinese “were a race of people whom nature has marked as inferior, and who are incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point, as history has shown.” Similar laws prevented Chinese and other minorities from serving as jurors or becoming attorneys.

In the late 60’s, the civil rights movement and affirmative action opened law school enrollment to minority applicants. The 1970’s and 1980’s witnessed a surge in the number of Asian American attorneys, and in 1977, a dozen attorneys formed the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA). One of the principal goals of the organization was to advocate for the appointment of more Asian American judges. At the time, there were only two Asian judges on the San Francisco bench – Judge Harry Low, who was appointed by Pat Brown, and Judge Sam Yee, appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan.

Judges are either appointed by the governor, or are elected by popular vote by running for an open seat or against an incumbent judge. Due in part to AABA’s efforts, more Asian American attorneys were recruited to either run for judgeships or urged to submit their names for appointment. Judge Ronald Quidachay, the first Filipino judge, was appointed to the San Francisco bench by Governor Jerry Brown in 1983. Judge Cynthia Lee was appointed in 1998 by Governor Pete Wilson, and Judge Newton Lam, a Governor Gray Davis appointee, was the last Asian appointed in 2001. Judge Julie Tang ran for her judgeship and was elected in 1990.

Late last year, the Asian American Bar Association and other organizations met with John Davies, the Governor’s judicial appointments secretary (read article), to urge the governor to appoint an Asian American jurist to at least one of the seats vacated by Judges Louie and Sing. Although they were told that diversity would be considered, the governor appointed four Caucasians to two judgeships in San Francisco and two judgeships in Alameda County. Last month, AABA and Chinese for Affirmative Action held a press conference to draw attention to the Governor’s failure to appoint an Asian American jurist in San Francisco, given the pivotal role that Asian Americans played in electing Governor Schwartzenegger in California’s historic recall election in 2003.

Most importantly, the governor’s failure to appoint an Asian American jurist to the San Francisco bench has left a void. Both Judge Louie and Judge Sing were extremely active in the Chinese and Asian communities. Judge Louie was a former board member of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance and Chinese for Affirmative Action, and Judge Sing founded the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition. The judges appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger, while qualified, will not fill the shoes of Judge Louie and Judge Sing, who served as important role models for the Asian Americans.

Asian Americans cannot afford to be complacent, and instead must voice our objections over the lack of diversity in the governor’s judicial appointments. Had the Schwarzenegger administration appointed two Caucasian judges to replace two long-time African American jurists, there would no doubt be a public outcry from the African-American community. If this issue concerns you, we urge you to write a letter to John Davies, the governor’s judicial appointments advisor at: The Office of the Governor, State Capitol, Sacramento, California 95814. You will find a sample letter at www.aaba-bay.com/aaba/docs/govlet0406.doc. (Editor's Note, 2008: This article was written in 2005. The current Judicial Appointments Secretary is Sharon Majors-Lewis). Although there are no vacancies on the bench, when the next judgeships become available, we must demand that an Asian American be appointed.

Jeff Adachi is the San Francisco Public Defender and a past president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA). Kathy Asada is the current AABA President and an SF public defender.

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