The OCBA recently passed Resolution 15R-01, which restates the OCBA’s strong support of judicial independence, urges citizens and litigants to support judicial independence as an integral part of our American justice system, and announces the OCBA’s public disapproval of the use of tactics which are, or have the appearance of being, punitive and retaliatory towards any sitting judge and which exceed the realm of appropriate criticism and exercise of the protected right of appeal, or which unnecessarily impede the public’s access to justice.

The resolution directly responds to “report[s] that since February 2014, Orange County prosecutors have sought to disqualify the Honorable Judge Thomas Goethals—a former homicide prosecutor and defense attorney—in 57 cases by filing affidavits under California Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6” compared to just five Section 170.6 affidavits filed against Judge Goethals from 2011 to 2013, an “excessive” and “inappropriate use of Section 170.6 … which could be construed as an attempt to intimidate not just that judge, but the entire judiciary, who will and must remain independent.

For more information and to read Resolution 15R-01 of the OCBA Board of Directors in its entirety, please click here