Retired judges condemn attacks on the judiciary — and say California officials are also to blame

Sept. 18, 2025 | Bob Egelko | San Francisco Chronicle

Brett Alldredge, a retired Tulare County judge, was dismayed when San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said earlier this year that most of the city’s judges didn’t take drug crimes seriously. Former San Francisco Judge Suzanne Bolanos was upset by Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin’s condemnation of a local judge last month.

Former Santa Barbara County Judge George Eskin says judges nationwide are living in a climate of fear — a climate he attributes, in large part, to name-calling and incendiary statements by President Donald Trump.

And as retired judges, they are not bound by the code of silence that applies to their former colleagues who remain on the bench. So more than 100 former California judges, and almost 50 former federal judges, marked Constitution Day on Wednesday by issuing declarations denouncing what they described as widespread and unjustified attacks on the judiciary. …