California Family Minute
July 29, 2011
Controversy Follows Brown’s Judicial Appointments
by Rebecca Burgoyne,
CFC Research Analyst
During his first term in office beginning in 1975, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Rose Bird, Joseph Grodin, and Cruz Reynoso to the California Supreme Court – all of whom were removed from office by voters in a later election. Bird, a former defense attorney who had no judicial experience, became known as a lightning rod activist opposed to the death penalty.
Last week, Brown made his first third-term judicial nomination to the California Supreme Court naming Goodwin Liu, a UC Berkeley law professor with no judicial experience, whose past activism has stirred controversy. Republicans in the United States Senate recently blocked the nomination of Liu by President Barack Obama to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. During those confirmation hearings, Liu’s viewpoints were fully disclosed, despite his protestations that his “personal beliefs have no role in the act of judging.” Liu, a proponent of homosexual rights, racial quotas, and the rights of criminal defendants, believes in a “living Constitution,” not to be interpreted as a foundational document but rather “in light of the concerns, conditions, and evolving norms of our society.”
Most troubling is Liu’s support of same-sex marriage and opposition to Proposition 8, which will be before the Court this fall. He was one of 59 legal professionals who signed a joint statement released by the No on 8 campaign during the initiative campaign, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times following the election, and filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing the challenge to Proposition 8. In his op-ed, Liu wrote, “The more familiar we become with gay spouses and their children – as our friends, neighbors and co-workers – the more gay marriage will become an unremarkable thread of our social fabric. Proposition 8 may then come to be viewed, in the long run, not as an enduring constitutional principle but as the will of a narrow and ultimately temporary majority.” Gov. Brown – himself an opponent of the marriage-protection initiative – fully expects Liu to be seated on the highest court for its September calendar, which will include the issue of the Prop 8 proponents’ standing in the Proposition 8 case.
Minority groups also criticized the appointment of Liu to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of Latino Carlos Moreno in February. “It is a grave oversight for the Supreme Court not to reflect the full diversity of our state. The California Supreme Court interprets the law on issues that are critical to all California families. Justice is best served when the perspectives of all Californians are represented,” said the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in a press release. Born to Taiwanese immigrants, Liu becomes the fourth Asian American on the high court, while there are no African Americans or Latinos. Brown responded, “We're all Americans. We're all Californians. The accidents of birth, though they indicate biography and life experience, it's just part of a larger mosaic.” Accidents of birth, Governor?
After a review of the nomination by the California State Bar Commission of Judicial Nominees Evaluation, the state Commission on Judicial Appointments – consisting of Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, the senior presiding justice of the state Court of Appeal (and a Brown appointee) – will consider the nomination at a San Francisco hearing on August 31. Should Liu be appointed, as is expected, he will fill the remainder of Moreno’s term and stand for retention in a 2014 election.
Controversy Follows Brown’s Judicial Appointments
by Rebecca Burgoyne,
CFC Research Analyst
During his first term in office beginning in 1975, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Rose Bird, Joseph Grodin, and Cruz Reynoso to the California Supreme Court – all of whom were removed from office by voters in a later election. Bird, a former defense attorney who had no judicial experience, became known as a lightning rod activist opposed to the death penalty.
Last week, Brown made his first third-term judicial nomination to the California Supreme Court naming Goodwin Liu, a UC Berkeley law professor with no judicial experience, whose past activism has stirred controversy. Republicans in the United States Senate recently blocked the nomination of Liu by President Barack Obama to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. During those confirmation hearings, Liu’s viewpoints were fully disclosed, despite his protestations that his “personal beliefs have no role in the act of judging.” Liu, a proponent of homosexual rights, racial quotas, and the rights of criminal defendants, believes in a “living Constitution,” not to be interpreted as a foundational document but rather “in light of the concerns, conditions, and evolving norms of our society.”
Most troubling is Liu’s support of same-sex marriage and opposition to Proposition 8, which will be before the Court this fall. He was one of 59 legal professionals who signed a joint statement released by the No on 8 campaign during the initiative campaign, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times following the election, and filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing the challenge to Proposition 8. In his op-ed, Liu wrote, “The more familiar we become with gay spouses and their children – as our friends, neighbors and co-workers – the more gay marriage will become an unremarkable thread of our social fabric. Proposition 8 may then come to be viewed, in the long run, not as an enduring constitutional principle but as the will of a narrow and ultimately temporary majority.” Gov. Brown – himself an opponent of the marriage-protection initiative – fully expects Liu to be seated on the highest court for its September calendar, which will include the issue of the Prop 8 proponents’ standing in the Proposition 8 case.
Minority groups also criticized the appointment of Liu to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of Latino Carlos Moreno in February. “It is a grave oversight for the Supreme Court not to reflect the full diversity of our state. The California Supreme Court interprets the law on issues that are critical to all California families. Justice is best served when the perspectives of all Californians are represented,” said the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in a press release. Born to Taiwanese immigrants, Liu becomes the fourth Asian American on the high court, while there are no African Americans or Latinos. Brown responded, “We're all Americans. We're all Californians. The accidents of birth, though they indicate biography and life experience, it's just part of a larger mosaic.” Accidents of birth, Governor?
After a review of the nomination by the California State Bar Commission of Judicial Nominees Evaluation, the state Commission on Judicial Appointments – consisting of Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, the senior presiding justice of the state Court of Appeal (and a Brown appointee) – will consider the nomination at a San Francisco hearing on August 31. Should Liu be appointed, as is expected, he will fill the remainder of Moreno’s term and stand for retention in a 2014 election.
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