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Gov. Jerry Brown nominated UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court Tuesday, giving the state high court a fourth Asian justice and a collegial liberal who is likely to be strongly supportive of civil rights. Liu was President Obama's pick for a seat on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but he failed to garner enough Republican support. Liu, 40, has never been a judge, but his colleagues at Berkeley, including conservatives, strongly endorsed him for the position. Liu, a graduate of Yale Law School, is the son of Taiwanese immigrants. He was born in...

Any minute now we will hear the result of another lawsuit about same-sex marriage. This month a federal judge in Massachusetts threw out a Congressional law which defined marriage as the union of man and woman. Soon a federal judge in California is going to rule in a lawsuit challenging “Proposition 8," the referendum by which California’s voters kept the traditional meaning of marriage in their law. If the pending ruling throws out Prop. 8 – as it very likely will – it would be the biggest victory so far for those promoting same-sex marriage in the United States. These...

LOS ANGELES - On Wednesday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Honorable Tani Cantil-Sakauye is his choice for Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. If confirmed, Justice Cantil-Sakauye would be the first Filipino-American and the second woman to preside over the state's highest court. The confirmation of Cantil-Sakauye would give the seven-member Supreme Court a majority of four women for the first time in California history. Justice Cantil-Sakauye is a distinguished and deserving candidate with decades of public service experience in the California judicial system. Furthermore, the possibility of the first ever female majority on the California Supreme Court sends...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will nominate Tani Cantil-Sakauye, a Republican appellate court justice with a reputation as a moderate, to be chief justice of the California Supreme Court, The Bee learned Tuesday. Cantil-Sakauye, 50, of Sacramento is a former prosecutor and Sacramento Superior Court judge. She would replace Chief Justice Ronald George, who has announced he will retire Jan. 2. Cantil-Sakauye has been on the 3rd District Court of Appeal since 2005. If approved by a three-member commission and by voters in November, she would start a 12-year term in January. She would be the state's first Filipina American chief justice.

From issuing historic rulings on gay marriage, affirmative action and abortion rights to ushering in a new era of legal and political clout for California's highest court, Chief Justice Ronald George has cast a long shadow of influence across the state since the mid-1990s. On Wednesday, California's 27th chief justice decided it was time to step aside, unexpectedly announcing he will not seek a new 12-year term in November and will put an official end to the "George Court" on Jan. 2. The 70-year-old George said he will retreat from his notoriously frenetic life to read, run and travel —...

This guide helped a lot. I still can't figure out why a judge should not be required to file his/her personal party affiliations. Today more than ever we have to find activist judges and get ride of them! I hope all states have a similar guide to help everyone. Vote!

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed two attorneys to Superior Court judgeships in Alameda and Marin counties. -- Each judge will receive an annual salary of $178,789.

The California Supreme Court's surprising announcement that it will quickly review the legality of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage, has prompted growing speculation that the four judges who found a right to gay marriage in the state Constitution in a May ruling will quickly throw Prop. 8 out. If that happens, watch out for a "barn-burner of an election -- the biggest thing this state has ever seen," says recall election guru Ted Costa. Costa says he's already been contacted by some of the folks who would seek to recall Ronald George, Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno if...

Reporting from Sacramento and Pasadena -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already married would not be affected by the initiative. "It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end," Schwarzenegger said in an interview on CNN this morning. "I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn to the post of Superior Court judge. Details from the governor's statement: Hahn, 58, of San Pedro, has served as a mediator for the Alternative Resolution Center since January 2008. Prior to that, he worked as managing director for Chadwick, Saylor & Company from 2005 to 2007. Hahn served the city of Los Angeles as mayor from 2001 to 2005, city attorney from 1985 to 2001 and controller from 1981 to 1985. From 1979 to 1981, he was a partner with Horner and Hahn and, from 1975 to 1979, a...

If Prop. 8 wins, Newsom will be scapegoated. But the recriminations should focus on Ronald George.I voted against Proposition 8, just as I voted against Proposition 22 in 2000, on equality-under-the-law grounds. I hope the anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment fails on Tuesday. But I'm increasingly beginning to suspect it will pass. Backers have mounted a shrewdly framed TV ad campaign that doesn't have the harsh edge many expected from die-hard opponents of gay marriage. Its focus on the possibility that school kids might be taught about gay marriage has touched a chord among parents. (No, I don't think this claim is...

San Francisco (AP) -- California Chief Justice Ronald George has spent more than half his life cultivating an image of a cautious jurist and earning a reputation as a politically skilled court administrator. But his unlikely legacy as gay rights pioneer was sealed May 15, when he heard the roar of a crowd gathered below his office as his majority decision legalizing same-sex marriage was announced. Now, the law-and-order supporter of capital punishment is enduring from gay marriage foes the very complaints of "judicial activism" he has worked so hard to avoid during his 17 years on the high court...

This Governor is in the habit of rolling out Judicial appointments in big batches. Until this week, his last batch of new Judges was announced back in May -- twenty of them. I have made no bones about that fact that it is galling to me that the Governor, who was elected with all of the support of the Republican Party, loves to appoint registrants of the party of Barack Obama to the bench. In that May batch, it was 9 Republicans and 8 Democrats. It is a very sad situation for GOP donors and activists that we have to...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today appointed Silicon Valley lawyer Lucy Koh to a Santa Clara County Superior Court judgeship, moving quickly to fill an opening created by the recent disability retirement of Judge Randolf Rice. Koh, 39, is a partner in the McDermott, Will and Emery law firm, working as a litigator in the intellectual property department with a focus on patent and trade secrets cases. Koh is a former federal prosecutor who served in the major fraud section of the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office and she worked as a Justice Department lawyer in Washington, D.C. from 1994 to 1997....

As early as this week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will appoint a new judge to one of the state's 58 trial courts – and begin seizing an unprecedented opportunity to leave a lasting mark on the state judiciary. Legislation passed last year empowers Schwarzenegger to appoint 50 new judges beginning this month and 100 more in the coming years. These are positions the judiciary says are needed to meet growing demands on trial and appellate courts. The seats are newly created, not replacements for retired or departed judges. Never before has a California governor been given such a chance to affect...

I've opened this thread as a clearing house of information related to various judicial candidates in CA on the ballot for the Nov 2006 election. Feel free to add to it.

SAN FRANCISCO - Justice Joyce Kennard is the longest-serving member of the California Supreme Court, appointed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian in 1989. Justice Carol Corrigan is the newest, taking the bench in January after being tapped by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both go before voters this fall. In this so-called retention election, there is no campaign and no opponents for the nonpartisan office. Voters will be asked a yes-no question: Should the justices be retained? To keep their seat on the state's highest court for the next 12 years, each candidate must get more yes votes than no votes. In the...

LOS ANGELES – U.S. District Judge Manuel Real has a reputation of playing rough on the bench, running his courtroom like a tyrant and shouting over lawyers on the losing end of his rulings. However, he is also known to some as a fatherly, charming and sharp jurist who dedicates a considerable amount of time to help track the rehabilitation of defendants. Now, the 82-year-old Los Angeles judge, who was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, faces judgment himself. U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has introduced a resolution to enable his panel to investigate Real. If it's approved,...

Assembly Democrats and the governor are battling over judicial appointments, with overworked county courts caught in the middle. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, last week ordered new Superior Court judgeships for 2006-07 cut from 50 to 25; the 50 were to include three for San Joaquin and one each for Contra Costa and Solano counties. The money remains in the budget. Nunez ordered the cut in a separate bill authorizing the new slots. Steve Maviglio, Nunez's spokesman, said Tuesday it's mainly due to whom Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been naming to the bench. "The governor's appointments look like they've...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday he intends to appoint former Republican Congressman James Rogan to a judgeship in the Orange Superior Court on Oct. 1. Representing Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and neighboring areas in Congress from 1996 to 2000, Rogan was one of the House managers in the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton, but lost a heavily contested race in 2000 to Schiff. Schwarzenegger also named San Diego attorney Carolyn M. Caietti and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura H. Parsky to judgeships in the San Diego Superior Court, tapped Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Edward Bullard for a...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced he intends to appoint James Rogan to a judgeship in the Orange County Superior Court on October 1, 2006. Rogan, 48, of Yorba Linda, is of counsel with the law firm Preston Gates Ellis. Previously, he served as a partner in the Venable law firm from 2004-2005. He has also served as undersecretary in the Department of Commerce and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 2001 to 2004, member of the U.S. Congress, serving on the House Judiciary Committee and Commerce Committee from 1997 to 2001, member of the California State Assembly...

Hermosan Lynn Olson said she is “a little disappointed” at becoming the most judged judge-elect in recent memory. But she vowed to work hard and prove herself to her critics following her June 6 election to the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench. Within a week of Olson’s victory over 20-year judge Dzintra Janavs, some members of the legal community publicly bemoaned the electorate’s decision, the Los Angeles Times opined that voters “don’t know what they’re doing” when they elect judges, and the governor promised to reappoint Janavs to her judgeship. “I am a little disappointed that they seem to...

Schwarzenegger Names Four to Los Angeles Superior CourtRiverside Jurist Nominated to Succeed Justice Ward on Fourth District Court of Appeal Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday named three local attorneys and an administrative law judge to fill vacancies on the Los Angeles Superior Court. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board Administrative Law Judge Mary Lou Villar, civil litigators Steven D. Blades and Juan Carlos Dominguez, and former federal prosecutor Ray G. Jurado, now with the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review, would succeed one judge who died and three who retired. The governor yesterday also nominated Riverside Superior Court Judge Douglas Miller as...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Thursday the appointment of a Mountain View woman to a judgeship with the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Shawna M. Schwarz, 42, will fill the seat of retired Judge William F. Martin. Schwarz has served as a commissioner to the Santa Clara Superior Court since 2001. She was previously the directing attorney for Legal Advocates for Children and Youth with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley from 1995 to 2001. Schwarz, a Democrat, earned a law degree from Santa Clara University, a Masters degree in Sociology from Stanford and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Richard M. Goul to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Goul, 48, of Newport Beach, has served as a deputy district attorney with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office since 1989. He is currently deputy-in-charge of the sexual assault unit of the Long Beach branch of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Goul was a law clerk for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office from 1986 to 1989. He also served on the Cerritos College Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1985. Goul earned a Juris Doctorate...

In a highly unusual career move, Nora M. Manella, a well-respected federal trial judge, was appointed Thursday to the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, giving up lifetime tenure. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of Manella, a Studio City Democrat, comes just two weeks after the state GOP called on the Republican governor to name more members of his own political party to the bench. Manella, whose father was a founder of the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella, said she applied for a seat on the state appellate bench because she's "always been somewhat of an appellate...

GOP Lawyers Lay Plan to Push Governor on Judge Appointments Group to Form ‘Mini-JNE Commission,’ but Administration Spokesperson Says No Shift in Policy Republican lawyers intend to form a “Min-JNE Commission” to push Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to appoint more GOP members to judgeships, an organizer of the effort said Friday. Adam Abrahms, a Proskauer Rose associate who is chairman of the Los Angeles County chapter of the California Republican Lawyers Association, said he expects the association to appoint the commission by March 17. The goal of the process is to bring about the appointment of “judges who will better reflect...

The kerfuffle over supposedly “anti-Schwarzenegger” resolutions surfacing at next week’s GOP state convention is a rare instance — at such venues — of debate over matters of actual importance. Gone, at least for the moment, are the knock-down, drag-out, friendship-straining slugfests over who’s going to be deputy-assistant third vice-chairman in charge of refreshments. In their place are issues of substance. To steal a phrase from the viper-headed James Carville: “It’s the judges, stupid!” Actually, it’s the judges and government wage controls, and bond schemes, and Susan Kennedy all rolled into one explosive package. Resolutions will be introduced on each of...

Whereas, the Governor has appointed 118 Superior court judges, 59 Republicans, 47 Democrats and 12 Decline to State, including a large number of criminal defense lawyers and including those who have defended child murders and has overlooked qualified Republican attorneys in Counties where he has appointed Democrats, and Whereas, 3 of the last 4 judges to be appointed were Democrats, Therefore be It Resolved by the California Republican Party at convention in San Jose, California on February 26, 2006, that we strongly urge the Governor to appoint quality Republican Attorneys to the bench at all levels of the Judiciary and...

He’s the judge who says parental rights end at the schoolhouse door and that the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms is unconstitutional. He admires an Israeli judge who’s outlawed spanking and radically expanded the power of the federal judiciary. He considers an opinion he wrote in 1996 in favor of assisted suicide his greatest achievement. He’s Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—the most infamous member of the most radical court in America. He’s notorious because he’s caused real harm—to parental rights, public safety and the reputation of the federal courts. But one of...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Peter Siggins as a justice in the First District Court of Appeal, Division Three. Siggins, 50, of Sacramento, served as legal affairs secretary to Governor Schwarzenegger from November 2003 to November 2005. From September to November 2005, he served as the Governor's interim chief of staff. Prior to that, he was chief deputy attorney general for legal affairs responsible for all the legal work of the Department of Justice from 1999 to 2003. In this position, Siggins oversaw more than 1,100 lawyers that handle all litigation brought in the name of the...

California Supreme Court candidate Carol Corrigan won high praise Friday from a State Bar commission and most lawyers, judges and others commenting on her nomination in advance of next week's confirmation hearing. Corrigan, 57, a state appeals court justice in San Francisco since 1994, was nominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Dec. 9 to succeed Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Brown resigned from the state's high court June 30 to become a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C. Corrigan, Schwarzenegger's first Supreme Court nominee, has been described by most legal commentators as a moderate Republican close to the ideological center of...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A judicial vetting committee of the State Bar is ranking California Supreme Court nominee Justice Carol A. Corrigan with the second-highest rating the panel offers, according to documents released Friday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Corrigan, a San Francisco appeals court justice, to the state's highest court Dec. 9 to fill the vacancy on the seven-member court created when Justice Janice Rogers Brown resigned to fill a federal judicial post in the District of Columbia. The Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, which consists largely of attorneys in various practices, told Schwarzenegger that, after reviewing her extensive record...

A centrist Republican woman, not a polarizing payoff for the right, is headed for California's high court. Carol Corrigan, a state appeals court judge, will replace Janice Rogers Brown, a conservative ideologue named by Bush to a federal appeals court in Washington. The contrast couldn't be more instructive. Corrigan's courtroom idol is retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. "She's is a centrist ... a real consensus builder,'' Corrigan told the Los Angeles Times. Compare that with the go-it-alone Brown, whose record was so divisive that her Bush appointment was delayed for months. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets points for going...

LOS ANGELES – A former Orange County judge who kept sexually explicit pictures of young boys on his home computer pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of having child pornography. Ronald Kline, who served on the Superior Court bench, entered his plea in federal court in Los Angeles, the U.S. attorney's office said. Three other counts of child pornography were dropped as part of a plea agreement. The deal recommends he face 27 to 33 months in federal prison, though the court will have discretion when he is sentenced on March 27. Kline faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named Carol A. Corrigan to the California Supreme Court this morning, replacing an ideological conservative with a judicial moderate. Corrigan is a former prosecutor, former Democrat and self-described centrist who will replace the notable conservative Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who left last summer to take up a presidential appointment to a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. "She's a brilliant jurist," Schwarzenegger said today, referring to Corrigan as "classy," "experienced" and "knowledgeable." Corrigan, 57, becomes the sixth Republican on the court. One justice is a Democrat. Corrigan's appointment leaves no African Americans on the state's...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named San Francisco appellate judge Carol Corrigan to the California Supreme Court on Friday, deciding on a moderate Republican and former prosecutor to fill the post of conservative jurist Janice Rogers Brown. "This is the best of the best that we have in the state," Schwarzenegger said during a Capitol news conference called to introduce her. Corrigan, 57, a Republican sitting on the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, succeeds Brown, who resigned in June after the U.S. Senate confirmed her to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. Brown was the only...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday appointed Maria E. Stratton, the first woman to serve as the chief federal public defender in Los Angeles, to the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench. Stratton, 52, ran the nation's largest federal public defenders office, with 183 employees — including 65 lawyers — handling 3,500 new cases annually in its criminal, appellate and capital habeas divisions. Before taking that job in 1993, Stratton was a deputy federal public defender and was in private practice, where she specialized in criminal defense work as well as wrongful discharge and civil rights cases. "I'm really going to...

San Francisco -- The California Supreme Court begins its 2005-06 term Tuesday one member short following the June departure of Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who left to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Brown's departure paves the way for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fill perhaps his most important post. At the request of Schwarzenegger, a State Bar evaluation committee is reviewing Justice Vance Raye of the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, and Justice Carol Corrigan, of the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday named five lawyers, including a former Inglewood police officer, to fill Superior Court vacancies in several Northern California counties. Kenneth J. Gnoss, who served on the Inglewood force from 1974 to 1981 and is now chief deputy district attorney in Sonoma County, was named to the Sonoma Superior Court. The other appointees are Eugene Balonon, executive director of the state Gambling Control Commission, to the Sacramento Superior Court; Contra Costa County Deputy Public Defender Patricia Scanlon to the Contra Costa Superior Court; Garrett L. Wong, senior counsel for SBC Communications, to the San Francisco Superior Court;...

Memo to Arnold: Don't take the conservative base for granted. The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, started out the program today with Hugh Hewitt, and in addition to the slate of proposition on reform the Governator wants to pass, lots of issues the base out here cares about were brought up. Here's how that interview went: HH: We kick today off with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has thrown the California political map into a complete tumult with a special election coming up in November. Governor, good to talk to you. AS: Hello, how are you, Hugh? This is great to...

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has sent the names of three candidates for his first appointment to the California Supreme Court to a State Bar commission that screens judicial nominees, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday. The three candidates include two state appeals court justices - Carol Corrigan of San Francisco and Vance Raye of Sacramento - and U.S. District Judge Morrison England of Sacramento, according the Chronicle, which cited an unidentified source who insisted on anonymity because the governor has not made the names public. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Julie Soderlund told The Associated Press Saturday that the governor had...

For Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's a time for choosing: Who will get his nod to replace Justice Janice Rogers Brown, the champion of limited government who has left the California Supreme Court for the federal appellate bench in Washington D.C.?[snip]Schwarzenegger will best serve the law and the public by finding someone equally driven to rein in the regulators, someone who shares Brown's belief that "courts must be especially vigilant, must vigorously resist encroachments that heighten the potential for arbitrary government action." [...[snip] Janice Brown takes property rights seriously. Unfortunately, she was often a dissenter in property rights cases. Indeed, California...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday added more new judges to Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, including a San Jose lawyer who has been instrumental in the city's legal strategy toward fighting gangs. The governor named Carol Overton, a senior San Jose deputy city attorney who has worked at City Hall for the past 18 years, to Santa Clara County Superior Court. He also named Franklin Bondonno, a Los Gatos environmental lawyer, to a Santa Clara judgeship, filling the vacancy created when former Superior Court Judge William Danser was ousted as a result of his criminal conviction in a ticket-fixing...

In the coming months, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have his first shot at filling a vacancy on the state Supreme Court, a choice that could give moderates a solid majority or continue the court's longtime conservative tilt. The influential seven-member panel has the final word on the vast majority of cases brought in California, including the emotional decision, expected soon, on whether same-sex marriage should be legal. His selection will replace Janice Rogers Brown, a conservative who left to join the federal bench. But Schwarzenegger's pick is not expected to generate the kind of controversy boiling over a replacement for...

Senate confirms Brown, leaving opening on Cal Supreme Court By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, June 8, 2005 (06-08) 15:42 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown for the federal appeals court, ending a two-year battle filled with accusations of racism and sexism and shadowed by a dispute over Democratic blocking tactics. The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Brown to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The decision gives California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger his first vacancy on California's highest court, which is the final...

Confirmation of Janice Rogers Brown to a federal judgeship Wednesday set in motion the official search for the person who will become one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most important appointees - Brown's successor on the California Supreme Court. Some court and Capitol observers are pointing to two African American state Court of Appeal justices as possible choices - moderates Vance Raye, a Republican from Sacramento, and Candace Cooper, a Democrat from Los Angeles. Brown currently is the only African American on the seven-member state Supreme Court - in fact, she's the only African American holding any statewide office. Schwarzenegger's pattern...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who promised a bipartisan approach to government, has kept his word in at least one area: judicial appointments, where party label doesn't seem to matter. Schwarzenegger's approach to the judiciary has received little attention so far, but it's about to move into the spotlight with the prospect of his first appointment to the state Supreme Court. The vacancy would be created by the departure of Justice Janice Rogers Brown, a member of the court since 1996 and its most outspoken conservative. --snip-- Her successor will join a court with awaiting hearings on important issues already on the...

With Janice Rogers Brown's long wait for confirmation to a federal judgeship over, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now has the opportunity to fill her conservative shoes on the California Supreme Court and help shape an institution that decides everything from Silicon Valley high-tech disputes to the fate of death row inmates. The governor said Wednesday he would move in as "timely a manner as possible" to choose Brown's successor, the first turnover on the seven-member state Supreme Court since then-Gov. Gray Davis appointed Justice Carlos Moreno in 2001. But legal circles are already buzzing with possibilities, many of them focused on...

San Francisco -- Janice Rogers Brown's looming departure from the California Supreme Court is handing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger his biggest judicial appointment since taking office in an unprecedented recall election two years ago. And even though the idea of a "black seat" runs counter to Brown's rulings against affirmative action and racial quotas, legal scholars say Schwarzenegger is probably seriously considering replacing the court's most conservative member, and only black, with another black judge. While Brown would likely stay through September to resolve the cases she's already heard, Schwarzenegger doesn't have much time to make his decision known. The Senate...