Posted on 08/27/2005 12:54:51 PM PDT by SmithL
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 submitted "a few" candidate names to the State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation during the week of Aug. 15, but she would not identify them.
The bar commission did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment from The Associated Press Saturday.
The governor was expected to submit one or two more names to the commission, according to the Chronicle's "highly placed" source.
The candidate would replace Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who resigned in June after the U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination to a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. Brown was the most conservative member of the California Supreme Court, which now has a 5-1 majority of Republican appointees.
The list of three nominees, all appointed by Republicans, indicates that Schwarzenegger wants to pick a woman or minority to succeed Brown, the only black woman in the court's history. Corrigan is a woman, and Raye and England are black men.
Corrigan, 57, was an Alameda County prosecutor and a Municipal Court judge before Gov. Pete Wilson promoted her to the Superior Court in 1991 and to the state Court of Appeal in 1994.
Raye, 58, was a top legal adviser to Gov. George Deukmejian before the governor appointed him to the Sacramento County Superior Court in 1989 and to the state Court of Appeal in 1990.
England 50, was a business attorney in Sacramento until Wilson appointed him to the Sacramento County Municipal Court in 1996 and to the Superior court in 1997. President Bush appointed him to the U.S. District Court in 2002.
These three sound like they all have good pedigree.
Given Arnold's recent history, I'm a little surprised he hasn't thrown a few liberal Democrat judges into the running.
I don't think anyone has the stomach for another Rose Bird. Gray Davis used his sole pick to name a moderate Dem..
The governor was expected to submit one or two more names to the commission, according to the Chronicle's "highly placed" source.
A few other names already submitted, and one or two more to be submitted. Hmmm...
So, the three profiled here represent less than half of the list. I wonder why they chose to leak only these three.
Because... They're prolly consider barely conservative enough!
Morrison C. England, Jr.
Biography
Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson as a Sacramento Municipal Court Judge on August 7, 1996. He was elevated by Governor Wilson to the Sacramento Superior Court on August 22, 1997. His current assignment is in a General Trial Court, which handles both criminal and civil matters. This assignment also includes the Accelerated Civil Trial (ACT) Program. In addition to his courtroom duties, Judge England is the chair of the Sacramento Superior Court Technology Committee and is a member of the Sacramento Superior Court’s Executive Committee.
Before coming to the Sacramento Court, he was a partner with the firm of Quattrin, Johnson, Campora & England. Judge England attended McClatchy High School and Sacramento City College and graduated from the University of Pacific in 1976 with a BA in Pre-Law. In 1976 he began a career as a football coach at California State University, Fullerton. In 1978 he became Assistant Football Coach at California State University, Sacramento. He later began law school at McGeorge School of Law where he graduated with a JD in 1983. He passed the California bar in 1983 and became a partner in the law firm of Quattrin, Clemons & England. His first involvement as a bench officer was in 1991, when he began working as a judge pro tem at the Sacramento County Juvenile Court.
Judge England is in the third year of a three year term as a member of the Executive Board of the California Judge’s Association as the representative for Sacramento and San Joaquin counties. He is currently serving as Vice President of the California Judges Association for the 2001-2002 term. He is also a Master of the Bench (Emeritus) for the Anthony M. Kennedy Inn of Court, McGeorge School of Law. Judge England has been active in judicial education for the judges in the state of California. He has been an instructor for new judge orientation, advanced criminal procedure and most recently, was an instructor in criminal voir dire at the California Judicial College.
Judge England’s involvement in community activities has included service on the Board for the Leukemia Society, the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Sacramento, as a regent for Christian Brothers High School, and as a coach for the Sacramento Sheriff’s Team in the annual Pig Bowl charity football game.
Judge England has been a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corp for the United States Army Reserve since 1988. He currently holds the rank of Major and is a Senior Defense Counsel for the 22nd Legal Support Organization.
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www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/1stDistrict/justices/corrigan.htm
Carol A. Corrigan
Associate Justice
Judicial and Professional Positions: Associate Justice, 1994 - Present (Appointed 1994; confirmed by voters, 1994). Judge, Alameda County Superior Court 1991-1994 (Appointed 1991; elected by voters. 1992). Judge, Oakland, Emeryville Piedmont Judicial District 1987-1991 (Appointed, 1987; elected by voters, 1988). Senior Deputy District Attorney, Alameda County 1985-1987; Deputy District Attorney, same county, 1975-1985.
Professional Activities: California Judicial Council, 1997-present. Judicial Council Task Force on Jury Instructions, 1997-present (Chair). Commission on Future of California’s Courts 1991-1994. Center for Judicial Education & Research, Governing Board, 1994-1997. President’s Commission on Organized Crime, 1983-1986. Special Consultant, President’s Task Force on Victims of Violent Crime, 1982. Adjunct Professor of Law: U.C. Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 1984-1987, 1990-1994; U.C. Hastings College of Law, 1981-1987, 1989; University of San Francisco School of Law, 1988-1990; University of Puget Sound School of Law, 1981. Faculty: California Judicial College, 1988-present; Continuing Judicial Studies Programs, 1989-present; National Institute of Trial Advocacy, 1981-present (Distinguished Faculty Award, 1997).
Community Involvement: Board of Directors: Holy Names College 1988-present (Chair, 1990-present); Saint Vincent’s Day Home, 1982-present (Chair, 1991-present); Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, 1985-1989.
Education: B.A., magna cum laude, Holy Names College, 1970 (Student Body President, Founder’s Medal). J.D., Univ. of California, Hastings College of the Law, 1975 (Law Journal, Note and Comment Editor). Doctoral program, Clinical Psychology, Saint Louis University, 1970-1972.
Personal: Born: August 16, 1948, Stockton, California.
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www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/3rdDistrict/justices/raye.htm
Vance W. Raye, Associate Justice
Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Third District
BAR ADMISSION: Admitted to California Bar in 1974
EDUCATION: Juris Doctor, University of Oklahoma College of Law, 1970. Bachelor of Arts, University of Oklahoma, 1967.
PROFESSIONAL LEGAL BACKGROUND: Captain, United States Air Force, Judge Advocate General 1970-1974. Prosecuted and defended criminal cases. Served as liaison to the United States Attorney on civil litigation involving Beale Air Force Base. Ended military career as Chief of Military Justice (chief prosecutor) Beale AFB, California; Deputy Attorney General, 1974-1980; Senior Assistant Attorney General, 1980-1983, California Attorney General's Office. Deputy Legislative Secretary (1983) and Legal Affairs Secretary (legal counsel) to Governor George Deukmejian, 1983-1989.
JUDICIAL BACKGROUND: Judge, Sacramento Superior Court, 1989-1991; served as Supervising Judge, Family Law. Nominated to serve as Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, and confirmed by Commission on Judicial Appointments. Elected by voters to term commencing January 1991.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES/ASSOCIATIONS/AFFILIATIONS: Chairman of Staff Advisory Council of National Governors Association Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety (1988) ; California Council on Criminal Justice Gang Violence Task Force; Task Force on Victim Restitution (1989) ; Chairman, Judicial Council Committee on Family Law (1992-1993); Executive Committee, California Judicial Council Commission on the Future of the Courts/Chair, Family Relations Committee (1993); Member, American Bar Association Criminal Justice Standards Committee; California Judicial Council Appellate Courts Advisory Committee/Chair, Legislative Subcommittee; Vice-Chair, California Commission on Judicial Performance. Member, California Judges Association; Member, Wiley Manuel Bar Association; Master of the Bench, Milton Schwartz Inn of Court, University of California, Davis Law School; University of California, Davis Medical School Leadership Council.
EDUCATIONAL/PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND AWARDS: Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society; University of Oklahoma President's Leadership Award; Air Force Commendation Medal.
PROFESSIONAL TEACHING/EDUCATONAL ACTIVITIES: Co-author, "California Civil Practice, Family Law Litigation" (Bancroft-Whitney Co.); Contributor, "California Public Contract Law" (California Public Contract Project); Professor of Law, Lincoln Law School; Instructor/Panelist, California Center for Judicial Education and Research and State Bar of California Continuing Education of the Bar; Participant, New York University Law School Appellate Institute, University of Kansas Law and Organizational Economics Center, George Mason University Law School Law and Economics Center.
PERSONAL: Married to Sandra Raye. Adult daughter. Interests: Tennis, computers, gardening.
Arnold's Big Decision
Gov. Arnold was a guest on the program today. You can read a transcript of the enitre interview over at Radioblogger, but the key exchange, in my view, came at the end of the conversation. The confirmation of Janice Roger Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has created a vacancy on the California Supreme Court. Brown was the most conservative member of California's highest court, and though she often was obliged to dissent, she was a voice for serious scholarship from the right side of the legal spectrum in a state inceasingly overwhelmed at every level by left and hard left thinking.
Her replacement matters a lot to center-right conservatives, and Arnold's choice will be a huge deal to the center-right troops whom he will need in the fall of '06 if he declares for re-election.
It would be the smartest, and easiest thing in the world to nominate former Congressman, state legislator and judge James Rogan, who's up from the streets life story is inspiring to all people who know it.
It will be a disaster if Arnold picks a "centrist" or a time-serving state or federal judge.
If the Los Angeles Times is happy with the appointment, Arnold will have stumbled. Badly.
Conservatives have little to show for their support of Arnold to date. Things would have been worse under Davis, yes, but the blowback might have been enoguh to trigger statewide realignment. This is the opportunity Arnold needs to use to say "thanks" to his supporters on the right while at the same time doing the courts a favor by keeping alive a vibrant strain of legal reasoning, which though in the minority at present, represents a significant slice of California thinking. Here's the excerpt:
HH: Will you be appointing the new Justice on the California Supreme Court before the election?AS: I don't think it will be before the election, but I mean...
HH: Are conservatives going to be happy, Governor?
AS: We are right now going through the process, and it is, as you know, it's always very important that we appoint the right person, the most competent person, the person that really has skills and experience.
HH: But it's got to be a conservative. I mean, Janice Rogers Brown was the most conservative member of that court, and if you come in with a moderate, aren't the conservatives going to sit on their hands for you, Governor, next year?
AS: You can count on it that we will do the right...we will pick the right choice, and that we will do the right replacement.
Corrected link to above:
http://hughhewitt.com/archives/2005/08/21-week/index.php#a000130
Full text of interview also posted Here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1473020/posts
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