Injudicious Attacks

By Julie Pitta

San Francisco voters are disgruntled. Their unease is being manipulated by a moneyed elite with a self-interested agenda. Members of the school board were blamed for the struggles of an education system long starved of resources. A district attorney was held responsible for an uptick in crime that was a consequence of a worsening gap between rich and poor.

Recalls became a tool for expressing anger. Billionaire money all-but-guaranteed their success. Those wins were hollow victories. The removal of three school board members and the ouster of District Attorney Chesa Boudin ultimately changed nothing. The City’s underfunded schools are still suffering and crime only worsened under Boudin’s replacement Brooke Jenkins.

Now, the City’s ruling elite, joined by a mayor and district attorney they bankrolled into office, have a new scapegoat: San Francisco’s judges.

The billionaires see crime as a winning issue, one that can recruit numbers to their cause. For her part, Mayor London Breed hopes scapegoats will allow her to evade responsibility for the worsening conditions in the City she governs. 

DA Brooke Jenkins has been happy to join her. At a recent town hall hosted by TogetherSF, the political action committee backed by tech billionaire Michael Moritz, Jenkins blamed judges for her inability to secure convictions. That Jenkins, an officer of the court, is undermining a system she vowed to serve, is nothing short of appalling.

Jenkins is being assisted by Frank Noto, a long-time political gadfly and a backer of the Boudin recall. Noto recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that his group is targeting “the worst judges on the Superior Court,” accusing two incumbents, Superior Court Judges Michael Begert and Patrick Thompson, of releasing dangerous criminals onto city streets. Noto has strong ties to a billionaire William Oberndorf, a billionaire real-estate developer who’s among the elites attempting to buy city elections. Oberndorf’s group, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, is Noto’s largest funder. It’s worth noting that Oberndorf paid Jenkins $100,000 for six-months’ work during the Boudin recall. (Jenkins had previously claimed to be a campaign volunteer.)

This attacks against Judges Begert and Thompson are reminiscent of the tactics used by former President Donald J. Trump to undermine court authority as a means of rallying  popular support (and to distract from the legal challenges stemming from his time in office). The Brennan Center for Justice, named after late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, calls Trump’s assault on the judiciary nothing less than a threat to American democracy.

“The courts are bulwarks of our Constitution and laws, and they depend on the public to respect their judgments and on officials to obey and enforce their decisions. Fear of personal attacks, public backlash, or enforcement failures should not color judicial decision-making, and public officials have a responsibility to respect courts and judicial decisions.”

Last month, several former and current judges came together at City Hall to criticize what they called disturbing attacks on Begert and Thompson. They echoed the very concerns raised by the Brennan Center. J. Anthony Kline, a onetime presiding judge at the First District Court, said if judges are “dependent on the will of the majority our constitutional rights would be whittled away.” 

Begert and Thompson have distinguished legal records. Begert, appointed by the-Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger in 2011, runs San Francisco’s CARE Court (short for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment), a state program that removes mentally-ill people from the streets and into treatment. The son of a Japanese mother was Japanese, he has served on the boards of the Asian American Law Caucus, the Asian American Justice Center and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. “For 34 years, I have devoted myself to the cause of justice,” Begert said. “I have taken on every conceivable assignment in the court and been in every building in the court.” 

Thompson, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in March 2022, had a long and enviable career in private practice before entering public service. He is one of a handful of African-Americans to be appointed to the bench. “A well-run court is the key to public safety in San Francisco,” Thompson said. “That is my core philosophy to the extent I have one.”

“There’s this desire to point fingers on the part of elected figures,” Thompson said. “There’s been a fear narrative in San Francisco. I understand it. I’ve been the victim of crime. But, we’re not supposed to be consider things outside the courtroom.” Adds Begert: “[Some elected officials] want to change the subject. They’re pointing fingers at us to do it.”

Neither deserves to see his judicial record distorted in a transparent attempt to win political points.

The blame game will have consequences. Thompson is concerned that few able lawyers will be interested in public service. Begert worries about lasting damage to judicial credibility. “Our credibility is all we have to be an important part of the community.” San Francisco’s ills can be solved with imagination and hard work. The blame game is not only a distraction, it has the potential for grave harm.

Julie Pitta is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and senior editor at Forbes Magazine. She is a neighborhood activist and an officer of the San Francisco Berniecrats. You may reach her at julie.pitta@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter/X @juliepitta