Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
James N. Bianco
Do you have a photo that could go here? Click here to submit it for this profile!
2008 - Present
2027
17
James N. Bianco is a judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. He assumed office in 2008. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Bianco won re-election for judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California outright in the primary on March 3, 2020, after the primary and general election were canceled.
Elections
2020
Incumbent James N. Bianco was the only candidate to file and won the position by default when the election was canceled.
2014
See also: California judicial elections, 2014
Bianco ran for re-election to the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
As an unopposed incumbent, he was automatically re-elected without appearing on the ballot.
[1]
Education
Bianco received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his J.D. from the University of Southern California.[2]
Career
- 2008-2021: Judge, Superior Court of Los Angeles County
- 2005-2008: Court commissioner, Superior Court of Los Angeles County
- 2005-2005: Of counsel, Overland, Borenstein, Scheper & Kim LLP
- 1995-2005: Sole practitioner
- 1994-1995: Partner, Bahan & Bianco
- 1990-1994: Deputy city attorney, Santa Monica City Attorney's Office
- 1987-1990: Associate, Weissburg & Aronson[3]
Noteworthy cases
California man detained 17 years released under Mathews v. Eldridge precedent (2018)
A three-judge panel of the California Second District Court of Appeal ordered the release on September 12 of George Vasquez, a California man who had been detained for 17 years awaiting trial for commitment as a sexually violent predator, on the grounds that the state had violated Vasquez’s due process rights under the 14th Amendment. The panel consisted of judges Gail Ruderman Feuer, Dennis Perluss, and Laurie Zelon.[4]
Vasquez was convicted in 1995 of committing lewd acts on a child and served 12 years in state prison. Prior to his scheduled release in 2000, Los Angeles County prosecutors petitioned to have Vasquez committed to a state hospital as a sexually violent predator for two years. Instead, Vazquez’s hearing and trial dates were delayed for the next 17 years in order to allow for a series of six court-appointed attorneys to prepare for trial. Vasquez objected to the delays in his case in 2016.[4]
Superior Court Judge James N. Bianco dismissed the prosecutors’ petition in January 2018. Bianco argued that the breakdown in the state’s public defender system had violated Vasquez’s right to timely proceedings. The appellate panel later upheld Bianco’s decision, which was based in part on U.S. Supreme Court precedent concerning due process in the 1976 case Mathews v. Eldridge. The U.S. Supreme Court developed a three-part test in Mathews v. Eldridge for lower courts to apply when determining whether or not an individual has received due process during administrative proceedings. Courts must consider (1) the private interest at stake, (2) the effect on the private interest in the event of an erroneous determination as well as the value of any additional procedural safeguards, and (3) the government's interest, including the potential administrative burden of additional procedural safeguards.[4]
The California appellate panel applied the three-part Mathews v. Eldridge test in the context of Vasquez’s pre-trial delay pending an involuntary civil commitment. According to the test, the panel found that (1) detainment awaiting trial put Vasquez’s liberty at stake, (2) the length of Vasquez's detainment deprived him of his liberty, and (3) the government would not have suffered an additional administrative burden by going to trial in two years as opposed to delaying the trial for 17 years.[4][5]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James N. Bianco did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk: Candidate list for 6/3/2014 primary election, accessed March 17, 2014
- ↑ James N. Bianco Judge Profile
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedpr - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Courthouse News Service, "Man Held 17 Years Without Trial Ordered Free by Appellate Court," September 12, 2018
- ↑ SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION SEVEN, "THE SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY v. GEORGE VASQUEZ," September 12, 2018
 |
State of California Sacramento (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
