As many of you are undoubtedly aware, U. S. Disrict Court Judges (and U. S. Attorneys) are recommended to the President by the Senator(s) of the President's party who represent the state in which the vacancy occurs.
On the recommendation of Senator Diane Feinstein, President Obama has nominated Jacqueline Nguyen for a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Nguyen is currently a Judge of the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County. She is also corrupt.
Last October, a rather startling decision was handed down by the California Court of Appeal. Much to everyone's surprise, every judge in Los Angeles County had been receiving "supplemental" benefits from the County of Los Angeles. (See Sturgeon v. County of Los Angeles, 167 Cal.App.4th 630 (2008).) Judges are state employees and paid their salary and basic benefits by the state. These "supplemental" benefits were not reported anywhere. They amounted to roughly $46,000 in extra cash paid to each judge. Not one judge reported the extra payments on his or her financial disclosure forms. Not one judge let the parties to litigation involving the county know about this.
Los Angeles, of course, has a long history of corruption. It is so ingrained that it is not even noticed. It was stunning, though, that not even one of the over 400 judges in the county turned down the "supplemental" benefits.
One wonders how Nguyen will be able to sit on Federal criminal cases when she could be prosecuted at any time by the U. S. Attorney's Office for public corruption while a state officer. Her husband is an assistant U. S. Attorney.
Nguyen was recommended by a panel that Feinstein has put together to recommend judges and U. S. Attorneys in the Central District. One of the members of the panel is the most recent President of the State Bar of California, Holly Fujii.
The State Bar of California is not a bar association. It is a governmental agency to which all lawyers in the state must belong in order to practice. The State Bar has an Office of Trial Counsel and a separate State Bar Court, which handles discipline against errant lawyers.
Earlier this year, while Fujii was still President, the State Bar fired the head of the Office of Trial Counsel. It turned out that he was actually bringing disciplinary charges against unethical District Attorneys. That would never do. He is gone now and the prosecutors can rest easy.
The corruption in California just keeps going on and on. It is never remarked upon. It makes Chicago look clean.