9th Circuit Backs Judge Despite Work Given to Friends
Backing a federal judge accused by a newspaper of awarding more than $4.8 million in judgments and fees to individuals with whom he had political and business ties without fully disclosing the personal relationships, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided today to dismiss a complaint against the jurist.
The impartiality of U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan of Las Vegas, who was one of the subjects of a 2006 investigation by the Los Angeles Times of judges there, was not affected by conduct such as appointing his former campaign treasurer and the man’s son to act as receivers and special masters in business disputes, the court found. A former law partner of the judge often worked as counsel for the former treasurer in these matters, too, eports the Los Angeles Times.
Mahan, who had denied any wrongdoing and said he appointed individuals based on their ability to do the job, expressed relief. “All a judge has is his integrity,” he says. “This whole thing was an attack on my integrity, and frankly, I felt like it was an attack on the Nevada judiciary.”
