Defense and immigration attorneys vying for Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge seat

Immigration attorney Alisa Thomas and criminal defense attorney Bryan Hackett are competing for an open seat on the Santa Cruz County Superior Court in the June 2 election.

All Santa Cruz County registered voters will be asked to check a box on the nonpartisan ballot to decide whether Hackett or Thomas will serve the six-year term, which starts in January 2027. Judicial elections are rare because most superior court judge vacancies are filled by the governor. The most recent election for a judge in Santa Cruz County was in 2020, when Nancy de la Peña won in a runoff.

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While both candidates in this race believe judges should be transparent and impartial, they differ in their views on diversion – or alternatives to incarceration – and they differ significantly in experience. 

For the past 25 years, Thomas has worked primarily in the San Francisco Immigration Court focused on assisting her clients, many of them farmworkers, as they seek work permits and residency. 

“You pull people out of this sort of amorphous limbo, and you get them a green card,” she told Lookout. “I’m running because I want to do the same type of work and use my skills and efforts to help not only the immigrant community, but the community as a whole.” 

Hackett has worked in the Santa Cruz court for 15 years, defending clients and interacting with the local criminal justice system from the county district attorney’s office and local judges to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.

“I make a better neutral arbiter than I do zealous advocate,” Hackett told Lookout. “I think I’m very good at what I do. I love my job, but I think there’s an evolution of the service that I can provide to my community in bringing that philosophy to the bench.” 

In Santa Cruz County, 12 judges sit on the bench. Thomas and Hackett want to succeed Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel, who’s retiring after first being appointed by former governor Jerry Brown in 2012. The candidate who wins Siegel’s seat will face reelection in 2032. 

Five other Santa Cruz County judges also have expiring terms this year, but because they’re running unopposed, they won’t appear on the ballot. 

Superior Court judges earn about $244,727 and are employees of the Judicial Branch of California. They follow a code of ethics while overseeing the resolution of conflicts in criminal and civil cases, which can involve jury trials. 

Lookout sat down with both of the candidates to learn more about their backgrounds, their judicial philosophies, their views on eviction cases and alternatives to incarceration, and ethical challenges judges face. 

Who is Alisa Thomas?

Thomas lives in Aptos, litigates in San Francisco and works from her downtown Santa Cruz office, framed by tall wooden walls and windows separating the multiple rooms of her firm. Her two Cuban Havanese dogs, Athena and Che, look over the headquarters from their perches on leather couches. 

She moved to Santa Cruz for love. Thomas married UC Santa Cruz professor Alan Richards and had two children. She declined to tell Lookout her age, to have her portrait taken or to grant more than 30 minutes for the interview. She also declined to participate in a candidate forum with her opponent, nor to do an interview with the Lookout editorial endorsement team.

Thomas’ work as an immigration attorney sometimes involves asylum cases – which lately have been upended by the federal government. Over the past year, the Trump administration significantly reduced the number of judges at the San Francisco Immigration Court, which is expected to shutter entirely by the end of the year. In November, the federal government paused millions of asylum cases. 

“It’s huge in the immigration world. It’s huge news,” Thomas said, adding that she’ll likely have to go to the Los Angeles immigration court once the San Francisco court closes. 

Thomas said the changes have severely affected immigrants’ cases, and their attorneys. She said between San Jose and Santa Cruz there used to be six immigration attorneys who did litigation; now it’s just her and one other attorney. 

“It’s very frustrating when you see people who have valid asylum cases that really will get killed if they return to the country, ” she said. “Terminating the application for no good reason at all. It takes a toll.” 

Thomas told Lookout her judicial philosophy necessitates thoroughly understanding the case: “And the main thing is to be impartial and to be fair and to hold people accountable.” 

If elected, she could potentially oversee eviction cases. While Santa Cruz is on the lower end for eviction rates in the state (8 filings per 1,000 renters), the county has struggled to address its local housing crisis. Santa Cruz County has been rated the least affordable rental market nationally for three consecutive years. Thomas told Lookout that following the law is top priority. 

“There are always two parties involved, and the landlords have to follow the law,” she said. “They can’t evict people early or illegally or because they’re a whistleblower. As long as the law is what it is now, I would follow the law.” 

As for alternatives to incarceration, called diversion, Thomas said that’s an area she feels her views differ from Hackett’s. 

“That’s where Brian and I diverge,” she said. “He’s very strong on spending money on diversion, and I think the programs that we have in place are great. I think they do a lot of good. But that would not be one of the things that I would want to make larger.” 

Thomas said she’s glad that the courts have diversion in place, but that she thinks people should also be held accountable and shouldn’t get “20 chances.”

Thomas received endorsements from retired 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Syda Cogliati and Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Erika Ziegenhorn. 

Who is Bryan Hackett?

Hackett, who lives in Boulder Creek, defends clients in Santa Cruz County Superior Court and works from his single-room office with a lobby, located across the street from the downtown courthouse. A poster made famous from “The X-Files” television series hangs on his wall and reads, “I want to believe” with an image of a UFO. 

He was drawn to Santa Cruz’s beaches and redwoods from the East Coast shortly after high school and went back and forth during his college and law school years. Hackett, 54, married his wife, Kacie, a registered nurse, with whom he has three young boys. 

Having a background in criminal defense and also raising a young family, Hackett said he understands the criminal defense side of cases as well as the public safety side. He said he is both an advocate for his clients and is “pro public safety.” 

“I think I bring the skill to the bench of being able to see both sides and respect both sides of the argument,” he said. “I think that will give me an advantage in being able to make fair and just impartial rulings by the law.”

He said he often thinks of a case involving a 15-year-old client accused of attempted murder who was automatically charged as an adult. His client was in a car with three other people and was accused of being the shooter. Hackett spent time building a relationship with his client, who initially didn’t speak to him. 

Over time, he learned his client had a significant learning disability and hadn’t received any specialized education services. 

“We ultimately determined that he was not the shooter and had been sort of manipulated by other people in the car,” he said. “Bottom line is, all that got brought to light, and thankfully, the district attorney with whom I was working agreed to transfer him back to juvenile court.”

Hackett went to his client’s graduation from juvenile hall. The client was able to get probation; he moved out of the county, got a job, a college degree and an apartment. Hackett said that case has stuck with him for more than a decade. 

Hackett describes himself as a “big fan” of alternatives to incarceration when applied appropriately. For example, if someone has a mental health diagnosis that led them directly to a crime they’ve been accused of committing, and that person is open to treatment that can fix the behavior, they can be diverted from serving time in jail or prison. 

“And as an attorney, and even more so as a judge, I think we have the power and the obligation to make sure that as a community, we’re banding together and making sure that if there are services and treatment that can help these people right the ship and not repeat their behavior and learn from it, then everybody wins,” he said. 

Hackett’s endorsements include Siegel, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Mandy Tovar, Santa Cruz County Supervisors Justin Cummings and Felipe Hernandez, and the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party. 

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