Courts should be immune from politics, a panel of judges said during San Bernardino Superior Court’s fourth townhall webinar April 13.
The presentation on judicial independence came as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has been calling for the recall of and resignation of San Bernardino Superior Judge Cara Hutson. Hutson had reduced bail for a man who violated it by not showing up to a later court hearing, and who killed a Riverside sheriff’s deputy before being fatally shot by other deputies.
“Many times the non-prevailing party or losing party is not happy, and judges, quite frankly, are convenient people to be blamed for the loss,” San Joaquin Superior Judge Barbara Kronlund said.
Yolo Superior Judge David Rosenberg and Kronlund presented. San Bernardino Presiding Judge Glenn Yabuno provided opening remarks, and San Bernardino Superior Judges John Pacheco, Khymberli Apaloo and Winston Keh moderated.
Kronlund said the Nazi party gained power in Germany after making judges obedient to the executive branch.
“There was no recourse to the court to challenge the government’s actions. Judges were one and the same with the other branches of government, and they became partisan, that’s political. The danger is that no institution was left to protect individuals,” Kronlund said.
Kronlund said two earlier judicial recall efforts in California have threatened the independence of the judiciary.
In 2005 effort, a special interest group tried to recall Sacramento Superior Judge Loren McMaster because he upheld the constitutionality of new laws that had granted rights to gay partners.
“The stated purpose of the recall, the proponents said, was to make sure that the reviewing court, who they filed an appeal with, the appellate court, that they reverse the decision or that they, the appellate justices would also be subject to a recall as well,” Kronlund said.
“It was a lawful decision. You don’t get rid of someone and fire someone for that, because somebody, some group, some special interest, doesn’t like it,” Kronlund continued.
“It would turn the courts into partisan courts if judges have to make their decision based on what’s popular with a particular group, as opposed to what’s right under the Constitution and the laws,” agreed Rosenberg.
Kronlund said the successful 2017 recall of Santa Clara Superior Judge Aaron Persky for his six-month sentence of Brock Turner, a Stanford student convicted of rape, was another case where a lawful decision was politicized.
Persky had based his sentence on the probation officer’s recommendation, his sentence was upheld on appeal and the Commission on Judicial Performance found no issues with his sentence, Kronlund said.
Family law judges are currently being targeted by parents who disagree with their decisions, and some parents have been claiming that the judges are sex trafficking their children, Kronlund said.
Both judges said that judges should not be associated with the political party of their appointing governors, and that the press should not portray judges as political.
“We’re not legislators, judges are not legislators. We cannot be involved in partisan political activities,” Kronlund said.
Apaloo, who stepped in to discuss the purpose of the legislator instead of Assemblymember Eloise Gòmez Reyes, who could not make the event, said that the judge’s role is to interpret laws, not to make them.
The court has held three other townhall webinars dealing with bias in the courts. Apaloo started them during the George Floyd protests. The court won the 2021 Community Outreach Award from the California Judges Association for the series.
