S. James Otero
James Otero was afederal judge for theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California. He joined the court in 2003 after being nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush (R). He retired from full-time service, assuming senior status, on December 30, 2018, and officially ended his service on April 10, 2020.[1]
Education
A native Californian, Otero graduated from California State University with his B.A. in 1973 and graduated from Stanford Law School with hisJ.D. in 1976.
Professional career
- 2003-2020: Judge,Central District of California
- 2018-2020: Senior judge
- 2003-2018: Judge
- 1990-2003: Judge,Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California
- 1988-1990: Judge,Los Angeles Municipal Court, California
- 1987-1988: Regional counsel, Southern Pacific Transportation
- 1976-1987: Law clerk and attorney, Los Angeles Office of the City Attorney, California[1]
Judicial career
Central District of California
Otero was nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush (R) onJanuary 7, 2003, to a seat vacated byRichard Paez as Paez was nominated to theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals.[1] Otero was confirmed by the Senate onFebruary 10, 2003, on an unopposed 94-0-6 vote, and received commission onFebruary 12, 2003.[2] He retired from full-time service, assumingsenior status, on December 30, 2018, and officially ended his service on April 10, 2020.
Noteworthy cases
Judge refuses to return copies of documents seized in raid (2014)
In April 2014, Judge Otero denied a land developer’s request to return items that were seized from him during the course of a federal raid of his properties. Jeff Burum, the developer, was accused of bribing county officials in an effort to obtain a $102 million settlement for his real estate investor group. Judge Otero denied Burum’s request because while the original items seized were returned to him, Burum still sought the return ofcopies of documents that were seized. As a criminal investigation was still underway, Judge Otero wrote that Burum’s "interest in the copies of the seized material [did] not outweigh the government’s interest."
Articles:
See also
External links
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Richard Paez | Central District of California 2003–2018 | Succeeded by: Fernando Aenlle-Rocha |
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| 2001 | Armijo •Bates •Beistline •Blackburn •Bowdre •Bunning •Bury •Caldwell •Camp •Cassell •Cebull •Clement •Clifton •Crane •Eagan •Engelhardt •Friot •Gibbons •Granade •Gregory •Gritzner •Haddon •Hartz •Heaton •Hicks •Howard •Johnson •Jorgenson •Krieger •Land •Leon •Mahan •Martinez •Martone •McConnell •Melloy •Mills •O'Brien •Parker •Payne •Prost •Reeves •Riley •Robinson •Rogers •Royal •Shedd •B. Smith •L. Smith •Walton •Wooten •Zainey | ||
| 2002 | Africk •Anderson •Autrey •Baylson •Cercone •Chesler •Clark •Collyer •Conner •Conti •Corrigan •Davis •Davis •Dorr •England •Ericksen •Fuller •Gardner •Godbey •Griesbach •Hanen •Hovland •Hudson •Jones •Jordan •Kinkeade •Klausner •Kugler •Leighton •Linares •Moses •Marra •Martinez •Martini •Mays •McVerry •Phillips •Raggi •Reade •Rose •Rufe •Savage •Schwab •Smith •St. Eve •Walter •White •Wolfson | ||
| 2003 | Adams •Altonaga •Bea •Benitez •Bennett •Boyle •Brack •Breen •Browning •Burns •Bybee •Callahan •Campbell •Cardone •Carney •Castel •Chertoff •Cohn •Colloton •Conrad •Coogler •Cook •Cooke •Crone •Der-Yeghiayan •Drell •Duffey •Duncan •Erickson •Feuerstein •Figa •Filip •Fischer •Fisher •Flanagan •Floyd •Frost •Gibson •Greer •Gruender •Guirola •Hall •Hardiman •Hayes •Herrera •Hicks •Holmes •Holwell •Hopkins •Houston •Irizarry •Jones •Junell •Karas •Kravitz •Martinez •McKnight •Minaldi •Montalvo •Mosman •Otero •Pickering •Prado •Pratter •Proctor •Quarles •Robart •Roberts •Robinson •Rodgers •Rodriguez •Sabraw •Sanchez •Saylor •Selna •Sharpe •Simon •Springmann •Stanceu •Steele •Stengel •Suko •Sutton •Sykes •Titus •Townes •Tymkovich •Van Antwerpen •Varlan •Wake •Wesley •White •Woodcock • Yeakel | ||
| 2004 | Alvarez •Benton •Boyko •Covington •Diamond •Harwell •Kelley •Schiavelli •Schneider •Starrett •Watson | ||
| 2005 | Alito •Barrett •Batten •Bianco •Brown •Burgess •Conrad •Cox •Crotty •Delgado-Colon •Dever •DuBose •Griffin •Griffith •Johnston •Kendall •Larson •Ludington •Mattice •McKeague •Neilson •Owen •Pryor •Roberts •Sandoval •Schiltz •Seabright •Smoak •Van Tatenhove •Vitaliano •Watkins •Zouhary | ||
| 2006 | Besosa •Bumb •Chagares •Cogan •Gelpi •Golden •Gordon •Gorsuch •Guilford •Hillman •Holmes •Ikuta •D. Jordan •K. Jordan •Kavanaugh •Miller •Moore •Shepherd •Sheridan •Smith •Whitney •Wigenton | ||
| 2007 | Anderson •Aycock •Bailey •Bryant •Davis •DeGiusti •Dow •Elrod •Fairbank •Fischer •Frizzell •Gutierrez •Hall •Hardiman •Haynes •Howard •Jarvey •Jones •Jonker •Kapala •Kays •Laplante •Limbaugh •Lioi •Livingston •Maloney •Mauskopf •Mendez •Miller •Neff •O'Connor •O'Grady •O'Neill •Osteen •Ozerden •Reidinger •Sammartino •Schroeder •Settle •Smith •Snow •Southwick •Suddaby •Sullivan •Thapar •Tinder •Van Bokkelen •Wood •Wright •Wu | ||
| 2008 | Agee •Anello •Arguello •Brimmer •Gardephe •Goldberg •Jones •Kethledge •Lawrence •Matsumoto •Melgren •Murphy •Scriven •Seibel •Slomsky •Trenga •Waddoups •White | ||
 | State ofCalifornia Sacramento (capital) |
|---|---|
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- Pages using DynamicPageList3 parser function
- Appointed by George W. Bush
- California
- Confirmed 2003
- Federal Article III judges
- Federal judiciary nominee, January 2003
- Former federal judge
- Former federal judge, United States District Court for the Central District of California
- Former federal judge, Central District of California
- Former Article III judges
