Posted on: Monday, June 7, 2004

EDITORIAL
Hawai'i badly needs a new federal judge

The federal District Court in Honolulu has had a vacancy on its four-judge bench for four years. Because the court is short one judge, civil trials are being pushed back several years.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

That means mission No. 1 is to nominate someone for the position who has broad respect and a minimum of negative baggage, so he or she can quickly receive the approval of the U.S. Senate and get down to work.

What we don't need is another nomination that is bottled up in the Senate for two years. That's what happened to Honolulu attorney Frederick "Fritz" Rohlfing III, who never received a hearing, perhaps because he was deemed unqualified to serve as a federal judge by the American Bar Association.

Gov. Linda Lingle is a huge supporter of Ted Hong, 46, who was among her earliest Democratic backers. She named him to the Board of Regents and made him the state's chief labor negotiator, and then she named him to the Big Island Circuit Court bench.

Now she has included him in a list of three names submitted to the White House to be considered for appointment to the federal bench.

"He's an outstanding lawyer, a great person and a person of great fairness and integrity, and he would do a great job," Lingle enthused.

That's a moot point. Because of concerns about Hong's judicial temperament, his Circuit Court nomination was rejected by the state Senate. It's logical on the basis of that vote alone to assume that Hong, if nominated, isn't going to sail through the U.S. Senate.

We're not aware of any such obvious problems for Lingle's other choices, state Attorney General Mark Bennett and assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Seabright, two high-profile attorneys.

But given three choices, we wish all three might have been strong ones.