Government,
Judges and Judiciary,
Letters
Mar. 3, 2017
Once again, governor's judicial appointments light on disabled, veterans
I read in detail the recent article, "Governor diversifies state bench" (March 1, 2017). That article discussed the recently released 2016 judicial appointment data by the governor's office.
East County Division
Peter A. Lynch
Judge
Arraignments
Southern Illinois University School of Law, 1984
Peter is an Afghanistan and Iraq veteran.
I read in detail the recent article, "Governor diversifies state bench" (March 1, 2017). That article discussed the recently released 2016 judicial appointment data by the governor's office. Many commentators quoted in the article extolled the diversity of Gov. Jerry Brown's appointments. I am grateful for the long-overdue progress of those impacted diverse groups. However, not all commentators agreed as attorney David D. Marsh quoted noting the lack of appointments for those with disabilities and veterans.
I have previously written letters to the editor on underrepresentation of the disabled and veterans. An old adage comes to mind when reviewing the 2016 data: What gets measured gets done. So let's review: The 2016 data reveals 84 female applicants who were 38.2 percent of all applicants. Hence, there were 221 total applicants of which 137 were likely male. The governor appointed: 37.8 percent female, 0 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, 8.9 percent Asian, 6.7 percent black or African-American, 22.2 percent Hispanic, 0 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 62.2 percent white or Caucasian, 8.9 percent LGBT, 2.2 percent veteran and 2.2 percent persons with a disability.
Since the disabled make up 19 percent of Americans and a 2013 American Bar Association survey reported that 8 percent of attorneys acknowledged a disability, there is an under representation of those with disabilities in the 2016 judicial appointments. That under representation was cumulatively present from of the governors appointments from 2011 to 2016 as only 0.6 percent of all of appointees were persons with disability. Veteran appointments from 2011 to 2016 were a paltry 2.5 percent. Other groups with low appointments were American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dennis J. Landin is quoted saying, "Joshua P. Groban, Brown's judicial appointment adviser, has made numerous appearances at events held by minority bar association groups." What disabled groups has Groban appeared before? What veterans groups? Is a public records act request needed to determine what groups Groban appeared at? What will a result of an analysis of a public records act request for Groban meetings reveal?
Recently at a panel discussion of the ACC All Abilities Legal Resource Group on "Disabilities Inclusion in the Workplace" panelist Kareem Dale who worked in President Barack Obama's administration as an advisor on disability issues noted the administrations framework adopted to address the lack of those with disabilities in the work force. He is quoted as saying "you can have all the good intentions that we want as a society, but if you aren't creating measurable goals and measuring yourself against those goals, than you likely are not excelling or achieving." He concludes with "Let's have measurable statistics, let's have a plan for getting it done, and let's have the CEO or COO or the CFO say, this is what I expect us as a company to get done."
Bluntly put, the appointment results for those with disabilities and veterans are poor. Based on Dale's template what is the governor's plan to address the imbalance? What percentage is the governor willing to increase to? What is the plan to reach those goals? Who will be held accountable for the successes or failures to reach those goals? The legal community and the free press need to hold the governor accountable to ensure all diverse groups are on an even playing field for judicial appointments.
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