The building was enormous in the old schools a bunch of concrete and granite benches kept
up and burnished beautifully and walking the marble halls.
It is a beautiful courthouse so many cases have gone on there. It is majestic. So many
phenomenal judges have been in there. It is storied and I think the heart and the spirit
of that is something that everybody needs to keep inside of them because that's what
really who the Central District is. From the judges to the staff to the law clerks to the
court clerks to the AUSA's to the Public Defenders, that is the family.
Of the people first and foremost, the history of this office. The remarkable legacy that
one inherits and then one has an obligation to carry forward into the future. And we just
attract the best people who understand that ethic and that commitment and live by it.
Here in Los Angeles, I got a call from Senator Wilson and he said, "well Mr. Bonner I'm
so pleased that you are willing to become the United States Attorney because I'm going
to be submitting your name to President Reagan" and I'm saying, "you're pleased, you
couldn't have made me happier Senator I mean this is this is my dream job".
I mean look, I'm incredibly blessed to say the least. It was beyond my wildest dreams.
And you want to talk about sort of your life flashing in front of you.
When the word came out that I had been nominated, "first woman" and of course always the
stories about me almost from the beginning were "first woman." I am being interviewed
and I talk about my parents, my mother born in Mexico and my father born in England and
I never formalizing his relationship to this country, he's the illegal alien but my mother
was a naturalized citizen. Kept arguing or telling me how young I was
and I didn't have any experience and I didn't know what I was doing as US Attorney.
The reason I went to law school was having seen and read "To Kill A Mockingbird"
having read the book and I thought boy that's what I want to be Atticus Finch wow. And well
then when you get out into the real world at least I'm just talking me, I realized
that holy cow, what a privilege this is to be able to work for the ideals and the values
that are in the Constitution. Look at the cases that the U. S. Attorney's
Office out here brings. Look what the OCDETF folks brought, Major Crime's folks or the
Fraud folks. You can look at ten, twenty, thirty, several hundred (bleep) have been
ensnared by the Federal Government in some of those very strong driven cases by the DEA,
ATF, FBI and all the other agencies. When I was the U.S. Attorney we had more cases
than you can imagine. Almost every area you can think of major narcotic cases, major money
laundering cases, defense procurement fraud cases, security fraud cases through the principally
through the Major Fraud section and so forth. It was clear that the Rodney King prosecution
had to be resolved. People were not in agreement in the U.S. Attorney's Office. Some people
thought we should go ahead right away and indict them and go for it. Others including
myself I felt it was the States problem, it was the State guys that had done it, it wasn't
the Feds that had done it. Well as you know they did not prevail, they got a Grand Jury
together the very next day and we had the indictments in a week at least state that
there had been an indictment and we were going to go forward with the case.
Some of the tougher decisions and the ones that actually came to me immediately were
whether to appeal an adverse decision. I mean the Armstrong case I was very involved in
that case. That was the case that went to the Supreme Court over allegations of selected
prosecution in crack cocaine. And I had to fight pretty hard to get them to take that
case. I mean they don't take many discovery cases to the Supreme Court.
The espionage cases you realize you can't always surface all the information that you
have. So when you analyze the situation you have to look at it with the framework of a
single spy now a double spy but what if they are now going in triple because that did happen.
Bank robbery, there was a bank robbery every day in Los Angles on average. It was almost
like half the bank robberies of the entire nation occurred in the Central District of
California, I'm not kidding you. It was an extraordinary period but also a very period
of great energy and enthusiasm and espirit de corps within the U.S. Attorney's Office.
I was the appointed United States Attorney in Los Angeles after 9/11. And the world changed
on 9/11 at least for us in federal service. I could feel that difference and it felt very
daunting and it felt very serious and it felt very needing of the utmost caring attention.
I remember in particular some of the gang work, they cleaned up the entire neighborhoods,
what's the impact, what happened? A year ago the Feds came in they took down I can't
remember the number now 77 some odd gang members and the answer is, we can walk the streets.
These little kids can walk down to catch the bus and they're not going to get jumped.
I had a vision which I saw needed some work. Is to try and bring both the Criminal and
the Civil side together as a single office. Resources was always the battle, there was
the Attorney General Advisory Commission that the Attorney General put together and everyone
was looking for resources. I was very fortunate and that I could stand-up and say, "hey
wait a minute we are three times the size of the second largest New York, which is always
our competitor and we are three times as large not only in territory but certainly in population
and in the criminal statistics". The amount of institutional knowledge that
the Brosios had both with the respect to the Criminal and Civil Divisions was amazing and
it was important to the office. Bob was the unique person; he was the one
who had the ever-living mind. Fred was a genius, Bob knew everything about
the criminal justice system and if you could get your case by Bob Brosio, it was going
to be a winner when you went to court. It's important for AUSA's to connect with
the community so that they understand the community that they are serving and protecting.
What's going to separate you is being a good guy or a good girl and projecting and
if you put that together you can't miss.. Probably put more emphasis on personality
than grades. I thought grades was certainly an indicator and very important but I like
to think that I was getting people persons because that's the job of an Assistant in
court is to be a people person to sell. There aren't too many lawyers who can claim
that they represent the United States of America. That's the position that I think they should
they have to take. They are not there to win or lose cases, they were there to represent
the United States Government. It is the single best job you will ever have
your worst days as an AUSA is hundred times better than your best days in private practice.
As U.S. Attorney you will always be on the good side of anyone you hired as an AUSA.
Because you will always be the person who gave them the best job of their lives.
It's really the greatest job you can do with a law degree. The fact that AUSA's
are given almost card blanche permission and authority to go out to do the right thing.
But it's the best job but if you actually make the most out of it.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, that was the best job because you're really right there
in the thick of it. You want an office, you want people who understand
that their responsibility isn't just to go down and slash and burn. That's not the
responsibility, the responsibility really is to do justice.
I think that fairness and honesty is probably the most important.
You will be one of the most important people in the lives of another individual. One has
to make sure that one dedicates ones entire wealth of talent and energy to make sure that
the gravity of the situation is met with the dedication of that talent and energy.
Soak it up enjoy every single second of it. Volunteer, get in court, that's what you
came here to do. It's okay to stumble, loose cases, it's okay. Enjoy the ride because
it will be so memorable. But the AUSA's with the support of that
staff were really the heart and soul of the office.
You have great AUSA's who are making great cases, that makes for a great office. We're
lucky when we get to be the U.S. Attorney because we get to work with and collaborate
with phenomenal AUSA's. But the heart of the office isn't the U.S. Attorney; the
heart of the office is the AUSA. You got to find something that you really
love and that means something to you. Man they ought to, I ought to be paying them to
do this stuff, I really like this. One of the reasons we started this history
project is to memorialize all the great stories from Assistant U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Attorneys
who have served in our district. Unfortunately, we lost Matt Burns far too soon. But we hope
in our history project, many of his colleagues and those who worked for him will tell the
stories and add and embellish to them just the way that Judge Burns would have done.
All I hope is that I have done the right things in each year I had to practice.
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