Guilford to retire from Central District Jan. 31

One of nine federal judges on senior status in the Central District of California is fully retiring at the end of January.

U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford notified President Donald J. Trump in a Jan. 6 letter that he'll leave the bench Jan. 31.

He took senior status in July, so his judgeship was included in the vacancies Chief Judge Virginia A. Phillips discussed in an Oct. 29 letter that described the shortage as a "crisis of unprecedented magnitude."

His retirement means any unresolved cases assigned to him will be transferred to other judges. Phillips said in an email Friday they'll be randomly assigned among the 19 active judges in the Central District's three divisions, not just the three judges remaining in the Southern Division in Orange County, where Guilford is located.

Guilford's letter said he regrets "that circumstances require retirement at this time."

Appointed in 2006, Guilford is not the only Central District judge who meets the federal bench retirement requirements under 28 U.S.C 371(b)(1).

Phillips warned in her October letter that if all exercise their retirement rights "only 11 active judges would remain, putting at grave risk our court's ability to serve the millions of people in the Central District." The district has nine vacancies, six from senior status moves and three unfilled seats for Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell, who died in 2017; George H. King, who retired in 2016, and Audrey B. Collins, who left in 2014 for the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Addressed to Senators Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris, of California; Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, and White House Counsel Pat A. Cipollone, Phillips' letter urged action on the six Central District nominations. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Nov. 13 for two nominees, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. and Milbank LLP's Los Angeles managing partner Mark C. Scarsi, whose nominations already had lapsed once at the end of the 2018 congressional term.

But senators took no further action, and Blumenfeld's and Scarsi's nominations lapsed again Jan. 3, as did the nomination of Horvitz & Levy LLP partner Jeremy B. Rosen.

The first-time nominations of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, Orange County Superior Court Judge Sandy N. Leal and Jenner & Block LLP partner Rick L. Richmond have also lapsed.