Percy Anderson (born 1948) is a United States district judge 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 United States district court, federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in South ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in 1970, followed by a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

UCLA School of Law The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. History Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...

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. 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 An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the Central District of California. From 1985 to 1996, Anderson was a partner at

Bryan Cave Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP (BCLP) is an international law firm with 31 offices worldwide. BCLP is headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. BCLP states that it specializes in Real Estate, Tax, Finance, Corporate, Litigation & Corporate Risk and ...

."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.

Federal judicial service

Lapsed nomination to district court under George H. W. Bush

In 1992, he was nominated by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

to serve as a United States district judge for the Central District of California, but did not receive a Senate confirmation hearing.

Nomination to district court under George W. Bush

Anderson was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

on January 23, 2002, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, 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 for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

on August 3, 1998. Anderson was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

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

Notable opinions and actions

In 2006, Anderson was removed from a

wrongful conviction A miscarriage of justice occurs when an 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. Innocent ...

lawsuit case by the

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', 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 involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

conviction but was later cleared by

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

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 Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

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 M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', 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 is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

s of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

''. 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

*
107-2 Hearings: Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments, S. Hrg. 107-584, Pt. 3, January 24, February 26, March 19, April 11, and April 25, 2002, *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Percy 1948 births Living people African-American judges Assistant United States attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California Lawyers from Long Beach, California UCLA School of Law alumni United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush