Metropolitan News-Enterprise
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Page 1
Schwarzenegger Nominates Justices for Three Courts of Appeal
By STEVEN M. ELLIS,Staff Writer
Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger yesterday nominated Fifth District Court of Appeal Justice BradR. Hill to become the court’s presiding justice, tapped Riverside SuperiorCourt Judge Carol D. Codrington to join the Fourth District’s Div. Two andnamed Sacramento Superior Court Louis R. Mauro to the Third District.
If confirmed by theCommission on Judicial Appointments, Mauro can be sworn in immediately, butHill and Codrington will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot in their respectivedistricts. If approved by voters, the two could then be sworn in Jan. 3, aJudicial Council spokesperson told the MetNews.
The commission saidyesterday that it has scheduled public hearings Wednesday, Aug. 25 intheSupreme Court Courtroom at the Earl Warren Building at 350 McAllister Street in San Francisco to consider all threenominations. Hearings are scheduled at 9:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, for Mauro, Hill and Codrington.
The commission isalready scheduled to hold a hearing that day on the nomination of Third DistrictCourt of Appeal Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye to be the next chief justice of California.
Deadline for Comments
The commission issoliciting comments and testimony on the nominations. The deadline for writtencomments and requests to testify in person is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 18. Requests to speakmust include a statement whether the witness will be testifying in support oropposition to the nomination, and provide a summary of the proposed testimony,the facts upon which it is based and its relevance to the nominee’squalifications.
The commission requestedthat correspondence be addressed to the chief justice at the Supreme Court, 350 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102.
The CaliforniaConstitution specifies that a gubernatorial appointment to the Supreme Court orthe Court of Appeal is effective when confirmed by the commission.
Hill, 56, has served asan associate justice of the Fifth District since 2006. He served as a FresnoSuperior Court judge from 1998 until he joined the Court of Appeal and as ajudge for the Fresno Municipal Court from 1991 to 1998.
A Republican, Hill was apartner and associate for McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte and Carruth from 1983 to 1991.He graduated from California State University, Fresno and UC Hastings Collegeof the Law.
Panel Members
Members of theCommission on Judicial Appointments who will consider Hill’s nomination areChief Justice Ronald M. George, the commission’s chair; Attorney General JerryBrown; and Fifth District Presiding Justice James A. Ardaiz.
Schwarzenegger nominatedHill to succeed Ardaiz, who said in June that he was stepping down when histerm ends Jan. 2 rather than seeking retention to another 12-year term. Ardaizsaid he was doing so to avoid a provision in the state Constitution that wouldbar him from accepting any other public posts if he stepped down before thatterm concluded in early 2023.
He also said he wasannouncing his retirement at that time to give Schwarzenegger adequate time toname a successor. Article VI, Sec. 16 of the California Constitution requiresthat the nominee be vetted by the State Bar Commission on Judicial NomineesEvaluation and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments prior toSept. 16.
If confirmed by then,Hill will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot. If not, the power to name the nextpresiding justice will go to whoever succeeds Schwarzenegger as governor inJanuary. That currently is most likely Brown, the Democratic nominee, or formereBay CEO Meg Whitman, the Republican nominee.
Codrington, 50, wastapped to replace Justice Barton C. Gaut, who retired Feb. 28. The governor didnot nominate anyone to serve the last 11 months of Gaut’s term, so Codringtonwould have to wait until the new term begins in January before taking office.
Like Hill, she must beconfirmed by Sept. 16 and approved by voters in November or the power to nameGaut’s successor will go to the next governor.
Members of theCommission on Judicial Appointments who will consider Codrington’s nominationare George, Brown and the presiding justice of the Fourth District’s Div. Two:Manuel A. Ramirez. Ramirez is serving on the commission due to theunavailability of Div. Three Presiding Justice David Sills, the FourthDistrict’s senior presiding justice, a spokesperson for the chief justiceexplained.
Codrington joined theRiverside Superior Court in 2007 after becoming a court commissioner theprevious year. She was a sole practitioner from 2004 to 2006 and an associategeneral counsel for the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2001 to 2004.
A Republican, she workedas a Los Angelesdeputy city attorney from 1999 to 2001, and she was a director for the Western Law Center for Disability Rightsfrom 1997 to 2000.
Codrington is a graduateof Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. She was an associatefor Burke, Robinson and Pearman from 1986 to 1989, and an associate and thenpartner for Mallory and Brown-Curtis from 1989 to 1997.
Mauro, 49, joined theSacramento Superior Court last year, and before that was Schwarzenegger’s chiefdeputy legal affairs secretary beginning in 2006.
He worked for theCalifornia Attorney General’s Office as senior assistant attorney general,supervising deputy attorney general and deputy attorney general from 1994 to2006. He also was an associate for Boutin Gibson Law Firm from 1993 to 1994 andfor Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher from 1988 to 1993, and served as a staffattorney for the California Supreme Court from 1987 to 1988.
Registereddecline-to-state, Mauro attended UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis School of Law.If confirmed, he will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of JusticeFred K. Morrison in January 2009.
Members of theCommission on Judicial Appointments who will consider Mauro’s nomination are George,Brown and Third District Presiding Justice Arthur G. Scotland, who said lastmonth that he will retire Sept. 17.
Compensation for theposition to which Hill has been named is $212,783, while compensation for theother positions is $204,599.
In other news,Schwarzenegger yesterday named Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Y. Lee of theCentral District of California to the Orange Superior Court, and Santa BarbaraCounty Deputy District Attorney Patricia L. Kelly to the Santa Barbara SuperiorCourt.
Lee, 38, has served inthe U.S. Attorney’s Office since 2001, and was previously an associate forPaul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker from 1998 to 2001, and a research attorneyfor the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1997 to 1998. He is a Republican.
Kelly, 42, was a Riverside County deputy districtattorney from 1994 until 2005. She is a Democrat.
Compensation for thepositions is $178,789.
Copyright2010, Metropolitan News Company
