Are Judicial Double Benefits Constitutional?

Even if you know little about courts, you probably understand the conflict of interest when judges accept illegal payments from parties involved in criminal and civil matters.  At the very least, opposing parties should know about the payments before hearing the case so that they can disqualify judges who accept payments.  This is why the state legislature views these kinds of payments unconstitutional.


Despite these facts, LA County judges have - for more than 20 years - accepted illegal payments (~$57,000/year) from the LA County despite hearing dozens of cases in which the County was a party in the case.


When a stink was raised, the governor signed a late-night emergency bill that indemnified judges who accepted these illegal payments.  A lawsuit was filed and the case is making its way through the appellate courts.


This recent video shows three Appellate Court justices trying to avoid making a decision on whether or not the Superior Court Judges in Los Angeles can continue to receive hundreds of millions of dollars illegally from the County of Los Angeles above and beyond their State salaries. Features Sterling Norris, Lead Attorney, Judicial Watch, Jones-Day Attorney Elwood Lui (former Appellate Court Justice) Paul Orfanedes, Director of Litigation for Judicial Watch, Appellate Court Justices Gilbert Nares, Judith Haller and Presiding Judge Tricia Benke and Full Disclosure Network's® Leslie Dutton.

The California Court of Appeal 4th District in San Diego heard oral arguments on October 13, 2010 for the second time in ongoing case brought by the non-profit public interest law firm Judicial Watch known as "Sturgeon II" originally filed in 2006 as Sturgeon v County of Los Angeles The case has been a hot potato bouncing back and forth from Superior Court where Judges recused themselves to Appellate Court and to the California Supreme Court. Who had refused to re-hear the case that resulted in Sturgeon vs County becoming case law. In an unusual move, the Los Angeles Superior Court Judges decided to intervene and take the issue to a second round battle.

Judges Judging Judges:

This awkward court fight has judges pitted against judges. The Los Angeles Superior Court hired Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher one of the nation's most prestigious lawfirms to fight to overturn the previous decision in November 2008 that found the double benefits of $300 million paid to L A Judges since 1987 were illegal. And, L A County would not take no for an answer, they hired Jones-Day one of the largest lawfirms in the world to continue the fight to give double benefits to the highest paid judges in the nation. Apparently the costly court fees for retrying the case is not an issue. There appears to be unlimited funds for the top legal beagles.  (More at Full Disclosure.)