Percy Anderson (born 1948) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, ...

Early life and education

Anderson received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

in 1970, followed by a Juris Doctor from

UCLA School of Law The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...

in 1975.

Career

From 1969 to 1972 he was a house advisor and later Assistant Dean of the UCLA Office of Housing. In 1972, he served as Auditor of the

California Department of Finance The California Department of Finance is a state cabinet-level agency within the government of California. The Department of Finance is responsible for preparing, explaining, and administering the state's annual financial plan, which the Governor o ...

. Anderson was a directing attorney for San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc., from 1975 to 1978, and was a lecturer at UCLA in 1977 and 1978. From 1979 to 1985, he was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California. From 1985 to 1996, Anderson was a partner at

Bryan Cave Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is an international law firm with 25 offices worldwide. Bryan Cave was headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. Berwin Leighton Paisner was headquartered in London. In 2018, Bryan Cave and Berwin Leighton Paisner me ...

."Senate Confirms Two Federal Judge Nominees for Central District of California"
, press release, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, May 17, 2002 Until his appointment to the District Court, Anderson worked at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

Judicial service

In 1992, he was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to serve as a United States District Judge for the Central District of California, but did not receive a Senate confirmation hearing. Anderson was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

on January 23, 2002, to a seat on the

vacated by

Kim McLane Wardlaw Kim McLane Wardlaw (born July 2, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1998. She is the first Hispanic American woman to be appointed to a federal appeals ...

, who was elevated to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

on August 3, 1998. Anderson was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on April 25, 2002, and received his commission on May 1, 2002.

Controversy

In 2006, Anderson was removed from a

wrongful conviction A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

lawsuit case by the

."Panel Takes Judge Off Federal Case"
Henry Weinstein, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', September 14, 2006 Lawyers for the plaintiff, a man who had spent twelve years in prison on a

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

conviction but was later cleared by DNA evidence, had complained that Anderson was biased against the plaintiff. On the day Anderson declared a

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

(due to a deadlocked jury), a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit ruled that due to Anderson's actions during the case his "impartiality might be questioned" and that the case should be expediently retried before another judge. In 2008, the Ninth Circuit overturned a trial Anderson presided over, ruling that Anderson should have disqualified himself due to his stock holdings in a corporation alleged to be a part of fraudulent business activities in the case."Homestore CEO's fraud conviction overturned"
Bob Egelko, ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', January 15, 2008 In a 2011 ''

'' article,"Relief delayed for prisoners deemed wrongfully convicted"
Carol J. Williams, ''

'', August 21, 2011 Anderson was criticized for extensive delays in reviewing

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

s of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

''. In particular, Anderson was alleged to refuse to rule upon writs in which junior judicial officials have found merit to a finding in favor of prisoner release; three cases have "languished unattended" in "years-long inaction"—these three cases waiting five years or more for rulings from Anderson. Legal experts have said that the delays are "highly unusual" and critics have asserted that Anderson's handling of these cases is concerning and may warrant a misconduct inquiry.

References

External links