Manuel Real
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Manuel L. Real is a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He was appointed in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Real (he pronounces it as "reel") was born on January 27, 1924 and attended Loyola Law School.
His most well known and controversial decision was in 1970, ordering forced busing in the Pasadena, California school system. His ruling marked the first time that a school district outside the South had been ordered to bus students (this ruling has since lapsed). Although the order was meant to decrease racial segregation in the school district, the ruling had the opposite effect and at the time actually increased segregation within the district. Due to the phenomena of "white flight," the percentage of whites in the district dropped from 53% to 16%, with schools dominated by African American and Hispanic students (with much smaller numbers of white/non-Hispanic and Asian children). Since the formal end of Judge Real's mandate in 2002, this trend has reversed, and the district is coming in to balance once again with the surrounding community.
In 1985, he threw out a $2 million libel suit against Boston attorney Michael Flynn because Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard didn't turn up for a deposition. A month later, he jailed Scientology lawyer Donald C. Randolph and arranged that further Scientology lawsuits be assigned to his court.[1]
He also ruled in 1995 that then-Attorney General Dan Lungren was in contempt of court and threatened him with jail.
He is noted for telling lawyers in the courtroom "This isn't Burger King. We don't do it your way here."
In August 2006, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis), introduced a resolution to enable his panel to investigate Real. The committee will determine if impeachment proceedings are required. Such impeachments proceedings are very rare for a judge. Recently, an investigative committee of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' Judicial Council conducted a closed-door hearing in Pasadena into this misconduct allegation against Real. The charges are related to alleged wrongdoing in a bankruptcy case over which he presided.
On September 21, 2006, Real told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property that he did nothing wrong in seizing a bankruptcy case from another judge. In the Real case, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has received widespread criticism by choosing not to discipline the judge. On September 19, 2006, a special commission headed by Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer castigated the 9th circuit for its inaction, and Mary M. Schroeder, the 9th Circuits' chief judge, ordered a formal investigation of the Real matter. These actions are in addition to the subcommitee hearings ordered by Sensenbrenner.[2]
On November 13, 2007, Real was publicly admonished by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In Calderon v. IBEW Local 47, Real had dismissed the case because the plaintiff's lawyer, notified only by e-mail, had failed to appear at a hearing. The Ninth Circuit reversed, noting that e-mail service was improper.
The appellate court criticized Real for his "unseemly haste in dismissing the case." "Justice suffers when judges act in such an arbitrary fashion. We apologize to the parties and admonish the district judge to exercise more care and patience in the future."
