As everyone is turning in their primary ballots, people are preparing for that slew of judges on their ballot whose names they have never heard of. In Orange County (OC), District Attorney (DA) Todd Spitzer released what he calls his “#NoLAinOC judges list” in an article in the OC Register. This is an incredibly alarming act of judicial interference on the part of a DA who is already exaggerating a crime crisis to prey on people’s fears.
Spitzer is no stranger to painfully questionable tactics. For at least two months after an order by a superior court judge, Spitzer failed to release data on racial injustice and the racial makeup of the defendants his office chose to prosecute. OC was further scandalized after it was revealed that Spitzer made comments about a defendant that violated the Racial Justice Act. There is also the Wahoo Fish Taco incident, where Spitzer made a citizen’s arrest using a gun and handcuffed an individual who attempted to talk to him about Christianity and had the gall to look at a knife back when Spitzer was the OC Supervisor. The man was quickly released by law enforcement since no crime was committed and it certainly calls into question Spitzer’s judgment.
His new decision to call out specific judges for their rulings and name-drop them is an incredible violation. Not only does it endanger the judiciary’s physical safety, it appears to be akin to retribution for unfavorable rulings. To interfere with the judicial process in this way is a violation of democratic principles and the values the justice system was built on. There are ways to appeal sentencing as a prosecutor without publicly shaming judges for exercising judicial discretion.
Judicial discretion, a judge’s power to make decisions based on their own evaluations and guidance from the principals of the law, is a key element of the judicial system. Spitzer’s claims suggest that judges are incompetent unless they are uncompromising and adhere to sentencing models he approves of. To in any way suggest that judges are not impartial by being lenient or using their discretion is plainly insane. Furthermore, increasing the severity of a punishment does not have any significant impact on reducing crime, as Spitzer claims.
Spitzer also cites a Public Policy Institute of California survey, which states that 76% of Californians see crime and violence as a major issue in their community. Unfortunately for Spitzer, anyone with a brain can see how misleading that statistic is. While crime rates in California overall are concerning, that is not Spitzer’s purview. Spitzer is the DA of OC, which has one of the lowest violent crime rates in California at about 318 per 100,000 residents, according to data from 2022 collected by the same institution. Increasing the severity of punishment in a county where crime is already relatively low and when there are no proven benefits is an overreach on the DA’s part. To then target judges personally and by name in the press is even worse.
As voters receive their general election ballots in November, Spitzer is right about one thing and one thing only — people need to pay more attention to who they vote for and look into those judges. But for voters, Spitzer’s stamp of approval should be a scarlet letter and not a point in their favor.
