California is becoming a laboratory for a radical experiment that threatens the very foundation of public safety. Activists are pouring money into local elections to install judges who openly want to end incarceration. This isn’t just about soft-on-crime policies; it’s a calculated move to dismantle the prison system from the inside out.
Los Angeles County has become the epicenter of this push. Across two recent election cycles, hard-left groups spent nearly $1 million to elect three judges committed to remaking the criminal-justice system, according to the New York Post. The goal is clear: infiltrate the judiciary to upend American justice.
The Architects of the Takeover
One main group behind this movement is La Defensa, a “femme-led” organization founded in 2020. Eunisses Hernandez, who currently serves on the LA council, and Ivette Alé-Ferlito are among the founders who explicitly aim to abolish prisons. The group claims to represent specific communities, stating it “belong[s] to” several “communities,” namely “Chicanx, queer, immigrant, undocumented, working class people with incarcerated loved ones.”
Alé-Ferlito laid out the strategy clearly in 2023. She wrote, “Electing progressive judges is a harm-reduction measure that disrupts power, it can only be effective as part of a broader abolitionist strategy.” She added that “It will take collective action to end incarceration in all its forms.” This group is now a powerhouse, backed by a political arm called Justice PAC.
Deep Pockets and Dangerous Ideas
The financial backing for this judicial coup is significant. High-dollar donations to Justice PAC came from Liz Simons, an heiress to the Renaissance Technology fortune, as well as Patty Quillin, the wife of Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder. These donors are funding a campaign to install judges who view the courtroom as an obstacle to their ideology rather than a place of justice.
The rhetoric from these activists is extreme. One advocate even compared a courtroom to a “slave ship,” according to a 2020 podcast appearance. This mindset suggests they don’t just want to reform the system; they want to destroy it. They believe that by stacking the courts, they can achieve a national takeover of the judiciary.
A Warning for New York
While this story is about California, the implications for New York are immediate. We cannot let these same ideas take root in our courts. Public confidence in the justice system depends on judges who are honest and above-board. When judges or their backers start playing games with the law, everyone loses.
Just look at what happened in our own backyard. A Manhattan judge was recently censured for bringing his gun into court for an “experiment” and deceiving a witness. The state Commission on Judicial Conduct said he “undermined public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.” As commission administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian stated, “Public confidence in the integrity of the courts depends on judges being honest and above-board.”
This is opinion and commentary from the RapForMayor team.
