(Subscription required) Korn said sentencing was the most challenging part of his job to adjust to. “I don’t want to be giving out sentences or imposing penalties that are overburdening,” he said. “On the other hand, I don’t really want to be Judge Easy Peasy either. So I’m always trying to find a middle ground, a spirit of where we’re going to go with this.”

(Subscription required) In the nation’s largest federal district — the Central District of California — each judge will decide whether or not to hold hearings remotely or in person in civil or certain criminal matters. People planning to enter courthouses or probation and pretrial services offices must follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an order issued June 11 by Chief Judge Philip S. Gutierrez.

(Subscription required) A Claremont attorney was held in criminal contempt and fined $2,000 for insinuating a panel of 4th District Court of Appeal justices might be in the pocket of The Irvine Co. and had turned a blind eye to the shenanigans of disgraced lawyer Thomas V. Girardi. 

When California legislators voted to ban private prison contracts in 2019, advocates hailed the first-of-its-kind law as a victory for immigrants who they said have long suffered in facilities run by corporations that cut corners and provide substandard living conditions and medical care.