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Report critical of investigation into LA-based federal judge

The Associated Press | Wednesday, Sep 20 2006 3:15 AM

Last Updated: Wednesday, Sep 20 2006 3:15 AM

A report that examined some aspects of the federal judicial discipline system noted that a federal appeals court has bungled an investigation into U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real.

The 180-page report issued Tuesday by the Breyer Commission said the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to dismiss a complaint filed over Real's intervention in a bankruptcy case and to declare that corrective action had been taken "appears inconsistent" with the law on disciplining federal judges.

"The chief judge and judicial council actions are inconsistent with our standards in respect to the chief judge's fact finding and the council's finding of corrective action," the commission found.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., said in July he was considering impeachment proceedings against Real because of "a breakdown in the judicial branch's enforcement of the judicial discipline statute Congress enacted in 1980."

Real, 82, who works in Los Angeles, is scheduled to testify Thursday before a judiciary subcommittee that is exploring impeachment.

He used his authority as a federal judge to take the case from a Bankruptcy Court judge, according to court documents. His intervention allowed Deborah Canter to live rent-free for three years, costing her creditors $35,000 in rent, plus legal costs, according to court records.

Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder, who conducted the Real investigation, initially rejected a complaint about Real filed by a civil rights lawyer. The 9th Circuit Judicial Council urged Schroeder to reexamine the matter and she again dismissed the case.

In October, the judicial council said it was satisfied with the "corrective action" against Real, which included a statement from his lawyer that the judge "does not believe that a similar situation will occur in the future."

Federal judges have lifetime appointments, subject to good behavior, and are rarely impeached.

Circuit judicial councils were created as an alternative in 1980, but have dismissed more than 99 percent of complaints against federal jurists across the country.

The 9th Circuit council, which supervises the conduct of federal jurists in California and eight other Western states, has reprimanded only two judges in the last dozen years and rejected hundreds of complaints, court records show.