Appointed by George W. Bush Role Judge Name James Selna | Alma mater Stanford University Preceded by J. Spencer Letts | |
Education Stanford Law School, Stanford University | ||
James V. Selna (born 1945) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
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Education and career
Born in San Jose, California, Selna received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Stanford University in 1967 and a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1970. He was a Captain, U.S. Army Reserve from 1967 to 1978. He was in private practice in California from 1970 to 1998. He was a judge on the Superior Court, Orange County, California from 1998 to 2003.
Federal judicial service
Selna is currently serving as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California at the Santa Ana courthouse. Selna was nominated by President George W. Bush on January 29, 2003, to a seat vacated by John Spencer Letts. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 27, 2003, and received his commission the same day.
In April 2010 he was selected to manage the consolidated multidistrict litigation arising from the 2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls.
Controversy
In 2007, Selna was assigned the case of C. F. v. Capistrano Unified School District, in which Chad Farnan, a high school student, alleged that his teacher in an advanced placement European history class, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution when the teacher made a number of statements in class that the student interpreted as disparaging religion.
On May 1, 2009, Selna granted, in part, the now former student's motion for summary judgment, ruling that one statement of the many cited by the student, a comment that creationism was "superstitious nonsense," did violate the Establishment Clause. In subsequent proceedings, however, Selna determined that the teacher was protected by qualified immunity and, on September 24, 2009, entered judgment denying the student declaratory, injunctive or monetary relief, and inviting the defendants to apply for recovery of their attorney fees and costs.
On August 19, 2011, the Ninth Circuit affirmed his finding of qualified immunity, but because it found the immunity issue to be dispositive, vacated that portion of the judgment that dealt with the constitutionality of the teacher's comments.