A sitting Assemblyman has been appointed to the judicial bench by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Democrat lawmaker Ed Chau, 64, will replace Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry, who recently retired, according to media reports.
“He has been a politician, he has run for office and he's run for office making promises,” said former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell. “That's fine. That's what politicians do. They raise money but judges are not politicians. Judges do not, cannot, and must not make promises to people. You take the oath, put that robe on, and you're not a lawmaker anymore. He's got to make that transition and it has to be immediate.”
Chau attended law school at Southwestern University School of Law and was a sole practitioner of law until he was elected representative for San Gabriel Valley’s 49th Assembly District. His term as a lawmaker would have ended in 2024.
“I don't think there's an inherent conflict,” said Cordell who was a judge for 20 years. “We've had other lawmakers appointed directly to the bench although it's rare. I'm curious as to whether or not this person was vetted through the Judicial Nominee Evaluation Commission or whether or not this was something that just quickly happened and the governor decided to do this.”
The Judicial Nominee Evaluation Commission, which evaluates and rates judicial candidates, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether Chau was vetted before being appointed.
“If you want to be a judge, you apply and your application eventually goes to the Judicial Nominee Evaluation Commission, which investigates,” she said. “They seek comment from everybody before making a recommendation to the governor. The governor doesn't have to go along with their recommendations, which is something that absolutely is wrong. When these candidates are thoroughly vetted by the commission, the governor should not be allowed to go pick somebody else who has not even come through the vetting but that can happen in California.”
Chau will be expected to attend training at the B.E. Witkin Judicial College, according to Cordell who was a professor of ethics and judicial conduct at the college.
"Generally, when new judges are elected or appointed in California, they go to the judges' college for about two weeks," she said. "They get a sense of what trial judges do. It's all about judicial bias and also about the appropriate things judges can do when not on the bench and on the bench, which is very, very important."