The Deception of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George

REBUTTAL TO L A TIMES OP-ED

By Richard I. Fine

In his September 14, 2009 Los Angeles Times Op-Ed article California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George stated that the Judicial Council of California decided to close the California Courts one day a month until June 2010. He acknowledged the hardship on Californian’s and praised the Superior Court Judges who volunteered to take a one day pay cut.

FAILED TO DISCLOSE AUTHORSHIP

However, he did not disclose that the same Judicial Council of California of which he admitted he is the Chairman, also wrote Senate Bill SBX2 11. This bill was introduced by Senate President Pro-Tem Daryl Steinberg on February 11, 2009 passed by the State Senate on February on 14th , 2009 and passed by the State Assembly on February 15, 2009 signed by the Governor on February 20, 2009 and became effective on May 21, 2009.

EXTRA JUDICIAL BENEFITS & CRIMINAL IMMUNITY
Such bill reinstated “supplemental county benefits” to Superior Court Judges in addition to their State Salary and compensation. Such supplemental County benefits have been held to be “unconstitutional” in the case of Sturgeon vs County of Los Angeles 167 Cal Ap 4th 630 (2008) review denied 12/23/08. Such bill also gave retroactive immunity to the Judges and others from criminal prosecution, civil liability and disciplinary action.

$30 MILLION MORE DURING FISCAL CRISIS?
By omitting to disclose Senate Bill SBX2 11 and it’s retroactive immunity, Chief Justice George did not inform the people that the loss to the taxpayers in L.A.County alone of these supplement payments to the Superior Court Judges in fiscal year 2009-2010 is estimated at $30 million dollars this loss is greater than the contributions of all of the Judges of one day’s pay per month over a year. In effect, under Senate Bill SBX2 11 the judges are making more money during this financial crisis while the citizens of California suffer.

DUE PROCESS DENIED
Worse yet, because of the retroactive immunity the decisions of the judges receiving county payments before 05-21-09 violated the due process clauses of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and the California Constitution. The recent case of Capperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., 566 US--, (2009) decided June 8, 2009 has reaffirmed a long line of Supreme Court cases since 1927 and previous common law. Such cases hold that it is a violation of due process when a Judge is in a position where there is a “potential for bias” or he is not “likely to be neutral.” Payment of money to the Judges fulfills these criteria.

BENIFITS TO FORCE JUDGES TO RECUSE FROM COUNTY CASES
Since Senate SBX2 11 does not give immunity for the current payments to the Judges the Judges receiving the current payments must recuse themselves or face criminal prosecution , civil liability and disciplinary action. Additionally, the county officials who are appropriating the funds for the payments are subject to the same sanctions as their immunity under Senate Bill SBX2 11 has also expired.

PERSONALLY AWARE OF PROBLEMS
Chief Justice George personally knew of these problems as they are issues presented in the petition for writ of Certiorari in the case of Richard I Fine v. State Bar of California, Supreme Court of California US Supreme Court Case No. 08-1573. Such petition shows that the California Supreme Court’s action to disbar Fine for bringing Federal Civil Rights cases against L.A. County and L A Superior Court Judges challenging L.A. County Payments to L A Superior Court Judges and filing other truthful documents in Courts violated the first, fifth and fourteenth amendments.

NINTH CIRCUIT RECOGNIZES CONFLICT
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals presently is also deciding the issue of whether L A Superior Courts judge David P. Yaffe should have recused himself from a case where he received payments from L A County and then presided over a contempt proceeding to enforce an order in favor in L A County and it’s co-applicant for an environmental impact report. The case is Fine v. Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal Case No. 09-56073.

JUDICIAL BIAS CONCERNS
In a companion case the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals has refused to acknowledge the California disbarment of Fine. It has stayed any disbarment proceedings of Fine in the Ninth Circuit until a decision has been rendered in the case of Fine v. Sheriff Leroy D. Baca. The Ninth Circuit has stated that overlapping issues in the two cases occur.

$30 MILLION WINDFALL FOR JUDGES
So one day a month closure of the Courts is miniscule compared to the massive undisclosed windfall to the Judges and the denial of due process to Californians that Chief Justice George, the judicial council, the state legislature and the Governor have accomplished with Senate Bill SBX2 11.

It is no wonder that Chief Justice George omitted to mention Senate Bill SBX2 11 and it’s massive effect upon Californians in his Op-Ed article?


VIEW RELATED VIDEO HERE

9th Circuit Orders Stay In Disbarment Case of Richard I Fine

Los Angeles, CA On Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Commissioner Peter L. Shaw issued a Stay Order in the Disbarment case of Richard I Fine (No. 09-80130) pending his appeal of the U. S. District Court denial of his petition for a Writ a Habeas Corpus. The Order cited a "significant overlap between the discipline case and the issues raised by respondent's pending habeas petition Fine v. Sheriff of Los Angeles County (No. 09-56073)".

JUDGE FAILS TO RECUSE: NOW AN ISSUE
This New twist provides promising in the ten year ongoing saga of beleaguered Anti-Trust Attorney Richard I Fine who has been jailed for contempt of court indefinitely. Fine was jailed by L A Superior Court Judge David Yaffe on March 4, 2009 for refusing to comply with a court order which Fine claims was an illegal order imposed by a Judge who was receiving illegal payments from in interested party in the case before him. At his March 4, 2009 Superior Court sentencing hearing, (No. 109420) Mr. Fine attempted to disqualify Judge David Yaffe from sitting on the case, noting he had been receiving payments from L. A. County, an interested party in the case (Marina Strand Colony Homeowners Assn. vs. County of L.A.).

TRANSCRIPT OF COURT TESTIMONY
A transcript of Mr. Fine's court testimony, under oath is available at this URL: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/FineContemptTranscript3-4-09.pdf. Mr. Fine also cited the October 10, 2008 Fourth District Court of Appeals ruling in Sturgeon vs County of L.A. (No. D050802) that held the payments by the County to the Judge were illegal. A copy of the ruling is available here: http://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/2008/sturgeon-v-losangeles-ruling.pdf

REACTION FROM RICHARD I FINE:

• "This is highly significant because the issues in the disbarment and the issues in the Writ are identical. The California Supreme Court disbarred me because I brought federal civil rights cases against the judges because they were taking illegal, criminal and unconstitutional payments from the county. "
  
• "The underlying issue is whether the Judges were denying people due process because they were taking money from the county. And, we know that the money they were taking from the county was unconstitutional under the Sturgeon case and it was criminal under Senate Bill SBX2 11 and we know those actions were a denial of due process of under the various U S Supreme court cases from 1927 through 2009."


• "So in the end when the 9th Circuit will decide that it was a denial of due process for Judge Yaffe to have received illegal, criminal and unconstitutional payments from the county, a party to the case. This decision will control the disbarment proceeding. "


• "There is further significance because four of the six California Supreme Court Justices who refused to review the Disbarment case and thereby caused the disbarment also had received illegal, criminal and unconstitutional payments from the counties and the other two Supreme Court Justice are members of Judicial Council who wrote the Senate Bill SBX2 11. (Retroactive Judicial Immunity from Criminal and Liability Prosecution) "These justices should have recused themselves from the disbarment case and by not doing so denied me due process under the US Supreme Court’s cases."

RELATED EVENTS:

• August 12, 2009: Ninth Circuit Court Justice Andrew J. Kleinfeld restores Richard I Fine's rights to appeal the U S District Court order denying Certificate of Appealablity "with prejudice" on the issue of whether or not the Trial Court Judge David Yaffe should have recused himself.


• August 31st, 2009: Richard I Fine filed an opening brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal raised the issue of having been denied due process by L A Superior Court Judge David Yaffe who had refused to recuse himself from the case after having received illegal payments from a party involved in the case and that he himself was a party involved in the contempt case.