Jump to content

Supreme Court of California

Coordinates:37°46′50″N122°25′04″W/ 37.7806°N 122.4178°W/37.7806; -122.4178
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Cal." redirects here. For other uses, seecal (disambiguation).
Supreme Court of California
Seal of the Supreme Court of California
Map
Established1849
JurisdictionCalifornia
LocationSan Francisco(Headquarters)
Sacramento
Los Angeles
Composition methodGubernatorial nomination and confirmation by Chief Justice, Attorney General and a senior presiding judge of the Court of Appeal
Authorized byCalifornia Constitution
Appeals toSupreme Court of the United States(for matters involving U.S. federal law or the U.S. Constitution only)
Judge term length12 years; renewable
Number of positions7
Websitesupreme.courts.ca.gov
Chief Justice
CurrentlyPatricia Guerrero
SinceJanuary 2, 2023
Lead position endsJanuary 8, 2035

TheSupreme Court of Californiais thehighest and final court of appealsin thecourtsof theU.S. stateofCalifornia.It is headquartered inSan Franciscoat theEarl Warren Building,[1]but it regularly holds sessions inLos AngelesandSacramento.[2]Its decisions are binding on all other Californiastate courts.[3]Since 1850, the court has issued many influential decisions in a variety of areas includingtorts,property,civilandconstitutional rights,andcriminal law.

Composition

[edit]

Under the original 1849California Constitution,the Court started with achief justiceand twoassociate justices.[2][4]The Court was expanded to five justices in 1862.[2]Under the current 1879 constitution, the Court expanded to six associate justices and one chief justice, for the current total of seven.[2][5]The justices are appointed by theGovernor of Californiaand are subject toretention elections.[6]

According to the California Constitution, to be considered for appointment, as with any California judge, a person must be an attorney admitted to practice in California or have served as a judge of a California court for 10 years immediately preceding the appointment.[7]

To fill a vacant position, the Governor must first submit a candidate's name to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation of the State Bar of California, which prepares and returns a thorough, confidential evaluation of the candidate.[8]Next, the Governor officially nominates the candidate, who must then be evaluated by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of theChief Justice of California,theAttorney General of California,and a senior presiding justice of theCalifornia Courts of Appeal.[9]The Commission holds a public hearing and if satisfied with the nominee's qualifications, confirms the nomination. The nominee can then immediately fill an existing vacancy, or replace a departing justice at the beginning of the next judicial term.

If a nominee is confirmed to fill a vacancy that arose partway through a judicial term, the justice must stand for retention during the next gubernatorial election. Voters then determine whether to retain the justice for the remainder of the judicial term. At the term's conclusion, justices must again undergo a statewide retention election for a full 12-year term.[10]If a majority votes "no", the seat becomes vacant and may be filled by the Governor.

The electorate has occasionally exercised the power not to retain justices.[11]Chief JusticeRose Birdand Associate JusticesCruz ReynosoandJoseph Grodinwere staunchly opposed tocapital punishmentand were subsequently removed in the 1986 general election.[12]Newly reelected GovernorGeorge Deukmejianwas then able to elevate Associate JusticeMalcolm M. Lucasto Chief Justice and appoint three new associate justices (one to replace Lucas in his old post and two to replace Reynoso and Grodin).[13]

Structure

[edit]
California law
Great Seal of California
Constitution
Codes
Note: There are 29 California codes.
Courts of record
Areas
Civil procedural law
Tort law
Civil rights law
Criminal law
Laws concerningpolitical subdivisionsof the state
Environmental law
Labor law
Family law
Consumer protection lawandbuilding codes
Education law
Miscellaneous
Historical laws

Between 1879 and 1966, the court was divided by the state constitution into two three-justice panels, Department One and Department Two.[2][14]The chief justice divided cases evenly between the panels and also decided which cases would be heard "in bank" (en banc) by the Court sitting as a whole. During the late 1920s, the court gradually transitioned to routinely hearing all appeals in bank, apart from two unusual exceptions in 1941 when it again tried to sit in departments.[2]The 1966 formal abolition of the department system merely confirmed how the court had been actually operating for quite some time.[2]

The Court's headquarters inSan Franciscoat theEarl Warren Buildingand Courthouse, which it shares with theCourt of Appealfor the First District

Oral argument was mandatory only for in bank hearings of appeals, which meant that many appeals were decided by three-justice departments on the briefs alone.[2]However, the state constitution required department decisions to be unanimous to produce a final judgment.[2]Any dissent automatically triggered an in bank hearing.[2]After a constitutional amendment in 1966, the Court currently sits in bank (all seven together) when hearing all appeals.[2]When there is an open seat on the court, or if a justice recuses himself or herself on a given case, justices from theCalifornia Courts of Appealare assigned by the chief justice to join the court for individual cases on a rotational basis.

The procedure for when all justices recuse themselves from a case has varied over time.[15]For a 1992 case, the chief justice requested the presiding justice of a Court of Appeal district (different from the one where the case originated) to select six other Court of Appeal justices from his district, and they formed an acting Supreme Court for the purpose of deciding that one case.[16]However, in a later case where all members of the Court recused themselves when Governor Schwarzenegger sought awrit of mandate(Schwarzenegger v. Court of Appeal (Epstein)), seven justices of the Courts of Appeal were selected based on the regular rotational basis, not from the same district, with the most senior one serving as the acting chief justice, and that acting supreme court eventually denied the writ petition.[17]In a yet more recent case (Mallano v. Chiang) where all members of the Court recused themselves on a petition for review by retired Court of Appeal justices on a matter involving those justices' salaries (that apparently involved matters up to and including the 2016–2017 fiscal year), the Court ordered that six superior court judges be selected from the pool that took office after July 1, 2017, to serve as the substitute justices for the six sitting justices, with the senior judge among that group serving as the acting Chief Justice; that acting Supreme Court eventually denied the petition for review.[18]

Membership

[edit]
Justice Born Joined Term ends Appointed by Law school
Patricia Guerrero,Chief Justice (1971-12-07)December 7, 1971(age 52) March 28, 2022[a] 2034 Gavin Newsom(D) Stanford
Carol Corrigan (1948-08-16)August 16, 1948(age 76) January 4, 2006 2030 Arnold Schwarzenegger(R) UC Law SF
Goodwin Liu (1970-10-19)October 19, 1970(age 53) September 1, 2011 2034 Jerry Brown(D) Yale
Leondra Kruger (1976-07-28)July 28, 1976(age 48) January 5, 2015 2030 Jerry Brown(D) Yale
Joshua Groban (1973-08-15)August 15, 1973(age 51) January 3, 2019 2026 Jerry Brown(D) Harvard
Martin Jenkins (1953-11-12)November 12, 1953(age 70) December 4, 2020 2034 Gavin Newsom(D) USF
Kelli Evans (1968-07-09)July 9, 1968(age 56) January 2, 2023 2026 Gavin Newsom(D) UC Davis
Chief JusticePatricia Guerrero
Associate JusticeCarol Corrigan
Associate JusticeGoodwin Liu
Associate JusticeLeondra Kruger
Associate JusticeJoshua Groban
Associate JusticeMartin Jenkins
Associate JusticeKelli Evans
  1. ^Took office as Chief Justice on January 2, 2023 after being elevated by Governor Newsom.

Six current justices were appointed byDemocrats(Liu, Kruger, Groban, Jenkins, Guerrero and Evans) and one byRepublicans(Corrigan).

There are threeAfrican American(Kruger, Jenkins, Evans) justices, oneEast Asian Americanjustice (Liu), twonon-Hispanic whitejustices (Corrigan, Groban) and oneLatina(Guerrero). One justice earned an undergraduate degree from aUniversity of Californiaschool (Guerrero atBerkeley), five from private universities in California (Corrigan atHoly Names,Liu, Groban and Evans atStanford,and Jenkins atSanta Clara), and one from an out-of-state private university (Kruger atHarvard). Two justices earned their law degrees from a University of California law school (Corrigan atUC Law SFand Evans atDavis), two from a private California university (Guerrero atStanfordand Jenkins at theUniversity of San Francisco), and three from law schools at out-of-state private universities (Liu and Kruger atYale,and Groban atHarvard).

The most recent addition to the court is Associate JusticeKelli Evans,who was sworn in on January 2, 2023, to replace then-Associate JusticePatricia Guerrero,who was elevated to chief justice.[19]In 2023, Guerrero became the firstLatinato serve as chief justice.[20]

The court first had a female majority from 2011 to 2017. This majority had been achieved in 2011 after Republican GovernorArnold Schwarzeneggerappointed Chief JusticeTani Cantil-Sakauyeto the court, joining JusticeJoyce L. Kennard(an appointee of Republican GovernorGeorge Deukmejian), JusticeKathryn Werdegar(appointed by Republican GovernorPete Wilson), and JusticeCarol A. Corrigan(another Schwarzenegger appointee). When Kennard retired in 2014, Democratic GovernorJerry Brownpreserved the female majority by appointingLeondra Krugerto succeed her; while this first female majority later ended with the 2017 retirement of Werdegar and appointment of Groban by Brown to succeed her, a second female majority was later established in 2022, upon the swearing-in of Guerrero to replaceMariano-Florentino Cuéllar.

Operation

[edit]
TheRonald ReaganState Building, the Supreme Court's branch office inLos Angeles,which it shares with theCourt of Appealfor the Second District

Jurisdiction

[edit]

TheConstitution of Californiagives the Court mandatory and exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all cases imposingcapital punishment in California,although the Court has sponsored a state constitutional amendment to allow it to assign death penalty appeals to the California Courts of Appeal.[21]The Court hasdiscretionary appellate jurisdictionover all cases reviewed by the Courts of Appeal; the latter were created by a 1904 constitutional amendment to relieve the Supreme Court of most of its workload so the Court could then focus on dealing with non-frivolous appeals that involved important issues of law.[22]

According to research by Justice Goodwin Liu, each year the Court has averaged 5,200 petitions for writs ofcertiorariand 3,400 petitions forhabeas corpus,plus 40 additional petitions from inmates already on death row.[23]In an average year the Court will decide to hear 83 cases and will be required to hear appeals from 20 new inmates joining death row.[23]Each week, the Court votes on 150 to 300 petitions, paying special attention to a staff-recommended "A list" as well as tocertified questionsfrom theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[23]

Internal procedure

[edit]

The Court is open for business year-round (as opposed to operating only during scheduled "terms" as is commonplace in jurisdictions that observe thelegal year). The Court hears oral argument at least one week per month, 10 months each year (except July and August). It has been headquartered in San Francisco since 1874.[2]Since 1878, it has regularly heard oral argument each year at San Francisco (four months), Los Angeles (four months), and Sacramento (two months).

According to Justice Liu, when a case is granted review, the Chief Justice assigns the case to a justice, who, after the parties finish briefing, then prepares a draft opinion.[23]Each justice writes a preliminary response to the draft opinion, and if the assigned justice is in the minority, she may ask the Chief Justice to reassign the case to someone in the majority.[23]The Court then hears oral arguments and, immediately afterwards, meet alone to vote.[23]The California Constitution requires suspension of the justices' salaries if the Court fails to then file a decision within 90 days.[23][24]The Court issues unanimous opinions in 77% of cases, compared to 43% by theSupreme Court of the United States.[23]

Throughout the year (including July and August), the justices have a conference every Wednesday the Court is not hearing oral argument, with the exception of the last week, respectively, of November and December (Thanksgiving and New Year's). New opinions are published online on Monday and Thursday mornings at 10 a.m. Paper copies also become available through the clerk's office at that time.

The Court is one of the few U.S. courts apart from the U.S. Supreme Court that enjoys the privilege of having its opinions routinely published in three hardcoverreporters.The Court'sReporter of Decisionscontracts with a private publisher (currentlyLexisNexis) to publish the official reporter,California Reports,now in its fifth series; note that the series number changes whenever the publisher changes, although the most recent changeover to the fifth series did not involve a change in reporter.Westpublishes California decisions in both theCalifornia Reporter(in its second series) and thePacific Reporter(in its third series). (TheNew York Court of Appealsopinions are similarly published in three reporters.)

Each justice has five assigned chambers attorneys.[23]Since the late 1980s, the Court has turned away from the traditional use oflaw clerks,and has switched to permanent staff attorneys.[25]Justices Goodwin Liu and Leondra Kruger, however, have returned to the traditional use of recent law school graduates as one-year clerks for some of their staff positions.[23]The Court has about 85 staff attorneys, some of whom are attached to particular justices; the rest are shared as a central staff.[26][27]The advantage to this system is that the reduced turnover of staff attorneys (versus the traditional system of rotating through new law clerks every year) has improved the efficiency of the court in dealing with complex cases, particularly death penalty cases.

During its first half-century of operation, the Court struggled to keep up with its soaring caseload and very frequently fell behind, until the California Courts of Appeal were created in 1904.[2][14]This resulted in provisions in the 1879 Constitution requiring the Court to decide all cases in writing with reasons given[2][28](to get rid of minor cases, it had often given summary dispositions withnoreasons given[2][14]) and requiring California judges to certify in writing every month that no matter submitted for consideration had been outstanding for more than 90 days, or else they will not be paid.[2][29][30]To comply with the latter provision, the Court does not schedule oral argument until the justices and their staff attorneys have already studied the briefs, formulated their respective positions, and circulated draft opinions. Then, after the matter is formally "argued and submitted" before the Court, the justices can polish and file their opinions well before reaching the 90-day deadline. This differs sharply from the practice in all other federal and state appellate courts, where judges can schedule oral argument not long after written briefing is finished, but then may take many months (or even a year) after oral argument to file their opinions.

Historical procedure

[edit]

In March 1885, the state legislature authorized the creation of the Supreme Court Commission to help with the Court's overwhelming backlog of pending appeals.[2]The justices were initially allowed to hire three commissioners.[2]Since oral argument was not mandatory except for in bank hearings of appeals, the justices began to assign cases to the commissioners which could likely be resolved on the briefs alone.[2]The number of commissioners was expanded in five in 1889.[2]

In retrospect, the commissioners can be seen as an important precursor of the law clerks and staff attorneys which the Court began to hire in the 1930s.[2]In contrast to modern practice, where appellate justices are expected to take ownership of the opinions to which they sign their names and staff members are mereghostwriters,the commissioners openly signed their opinions.[2]Each of the approximately 4,400 appeals (3,700 reported, 700 unreported) handled by the commissioners was resolved by an opinion signed by one commissioner with the concurrence of two others.[2]The opinions always ended in a recommended disposition, such as: "We find no error in the record and the judgment should be affirmed."[2]Originally, this was followed by a one-line unsignedper curiam statementin the name of "The Court," such as: "For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the judgment is affirmed."[2]Starting in 1892, the three justices who reviewed and summarily adopted each commissioners' opinion began to also sign their names.[2]

The commissioners were only partially successful in reducing the chronic backlog.[2]The Commission was also subject to heavy criticism as an unelected "auxiliary court".[2]Attorneys who enjoyed appellate work but had difficulty holding onto judicial seats in partisan elections repeatedly bounced back and forth between serving as elected justices and unelected commissioners.[2]After two more decades of debate, the state legislature recognized that the state needed to establish intermediate appellate courts and referred the issue to the electorate.[2]In November 1904, Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 2 was approved by the state's voters, which abolished the Supreme Court Commission and created the California Courts of Appeal.[2]All five commissioners were promptly appointed in 1905 to serve among the original nine justices of the Courts of Appeal.[2]

Publication of opinions

[edit]

Except for one decade at its founding, the Court has never been required by constitutional or statutory law to publish all its opinions.[2]The Court currently chooses to publish all opinions as a matter of public policy, as disclosed in rule 8.1105(a) of the California Rules of Court.[2]The original California Constitution of 1849 authorized the Court to publish all opinions that it "may deem expedient," and the current California Constitution of 1879 authorizes the Court to publish all opinions that it "deems appropriate."[2]In 1850, a statute was enacted directing the Supreme Court to publish opinions in all cases, but in 1855, the Court began to direct that some opinions should not be reported, and this procedure was retroactively approved by the legislature in an 1860 statute.[2]Over 1,800 unreported opinions were filed by the Court over the next 25 years (which includes the 700 unreported opinions filed by the commissioners).[2]ThePacific Reporterstarted to collect and publish the Court's unreported opinions at its launch in 1883, and then the Court gave in and switched back to publication of all opinions.[2]A small group of lawyers later recovered and compiled all the unreported opinions filed by the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court Commission before that point, which were published in a separate seven-volume reporter calledCalifornia Unreported Casesstarting in 1913.[2][31]Despite its name, those cases are citable as precedent.[32]

Ancillary responsibilities

[edit]

The Court supervises the lower courts (including the trial-levelCalifornia superior courts) through theJudicial Council of Californiaand the California Commission on Judicial Performance, and also supervises California's legal profession through theState Bar of California.All lawyer admissions are done through recommendations of the State Bar, which then must be ratified by the Supreme Court, and attorney discipline is delegated to theState Bar Court of California(although suspensions longer than three years must be independently decided upon by the Court). California's bar is the largest in the U.S. with 210,000 members, of whom 160,000 are practicing.[33][34]In 2018 and in 2023, the Court issued reform directives regarding corrupt practices within the State Bar of California.[35]

The court, with the assistance of the Reporter of Decisions, publishes theCalifornia Style Manualfor use by theCalifornia Courts of Appealand thesuperior courts.

Reputation

[edit]
TheStanley MoskLibrary and Courts Building, the Supreme Court's branch office inSacramento,which it shares with theCourt of Appealfor the Third District

AsThe Wall Street Journalstated, in 1972:

The state's high court over the past 20 years has won a reputation as perhaps the most innovative of the state judiciaries, setting precedents in areas of criminal justice, civil liberties, racial integration, and consumer protection that heavily influence other states and the federal bench.[36]

Statistical analyses conducted byLexisNexispersonnel at the Court's request indicate that the decisions of the Supreme Court of California are by far the most followed of any state supreme court in the United States.[37]Between 1940 and 2005, 1,260 decisions of the Court were expressly followed by out-of-state courts (meaning that those courts expressly found the Court's reasoning persuasive and applied it to the cases before them).

Many important legal concepts have been pioneered or developed by the Court, includingstrict liabilityfordefective products,fair procedure,negligent infliction of emotional distress,palimony,insurance bad faith,wrongful life,andmarket-share liability.

Themajor film studiosin and aroundHollywoodand the high-tech firms ofSilicon Valleyboth fall under the Court's jurisdiction. Thus, the Court has decided a number of cases by, between, and against such companies, as well as several cases involving Hollywood celebrities[38]and high-tech executives.[39]

The California Supreme Court and all lower California state courts use a different writing style andcitationsystem from the federal courts and many other state courts. California citations have the year between the names of the parties and the reference to the case reporter, as opposed to the national standard (theBluebook) of putting the year at the end. For example, the famous caseMarvin v. Marvin,which established the standard for non-marital partners' ability to sue for their contributions to the partnership, is renderedMarvin v. Marvin(1976) 18 Cal.3d 660 [134 Cal.Rptr. 815, 557 P.2d 106] in California style, while it would beMarvin v. Marvin,18 Cal. 3d 660, 557 P.2d 106, 134 Cal. Rptr. 815 (1976), in Bluebook style. The California citation style, however, has always been the norm of common law jurisdictions outside the United States, including England, Canada and Australia.

While theU.S. Supreme Courtjustices indicate the author of an opinion and who has "joined" the opinion at the start of the opinion, California justices always sign a majority opinion at the end, followed by "WE CONCUR," and then the names of the joining justices. California judges are traditionally not supposed to use certain ungrammatical terms in their opinions, which has led to embarrassing fights between judges and the editor of the state's official reporters. California has traditionally avoided the use of certain French and Latin phrases likeen banc,certiorari,andmandamus,so California judges and attorneys use "in bank," "review," and "mandate" instead (though "in bank" has become quite rare after 1974).

Finally, the Court has the power to "depublish" opinions by the Courts of Appeal (as opposed to the federal practice ofnotpublishing certain "unpublished" opinions at all in the federal case reporters).[40]This means that even though the opinion has already been published in the official state reporters, it will be binding only upon the parties.[41]Stare decisisdoes not apply, and any new rules articulated will not be applied in future cases. Similarly, the California Supreme Court has the power to "publish" opinions by the California Courts of Appeal which were initially not published.[40]

Important cases

[edit]

The California Supreme Court has handed down important and influential decisions since 1850. Some of the most significant of these important and influential Court decisions are listed below in date ascending order. Most of the Court decisions that follow were landmark decisions that were among the first such decisions in the United States or the world.

  • People v. Hall(1854):[42]A case which held that Chinese persons may not testify against a white man, even if the white man is accused of murdering a Chinese person; effectively overturned by state law in 1873. TheHallcase has been described as “containing some of the most offensive racial rhetoric to be found in the annals of California appellate jurisprudence” and “the worst statutory interpretation case in history.”[43]
  • Houston v. Williams(1859):[44]A leading case on theseparation of powers[45]under the California Constitution.
  • Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.(1944):[46]Then-Associate Justice Roger Traynor suggested in a now-famous concurring opinion that the Court should dispose oflegal fictionslike warranties and imposestrict liabilityfordefective productsas a matter of public policy.
  • Perez v. Sharp(1948):[47]The Court overturned the statutory ban oninterracial marriageas unconstitutional.Perezdirectly influenced the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on this issue,Loving v. Virginia(1967).
  • Summers v. Tice(1948):[48]The Court shifted the burden to the defense to disprovecausationwhen it was clear that one of two defendants must have caused the plaintiff's injury, but it was not clear which one.
  • Dillon v. Legg(1968):[49]The Court radically expanded the tort ofnegligent infliction of emotional distress(NIED) beyond its traditional form, which historically had been limited to plaintiffs standing in the same "zone of danger" as a relative who was killed.
  • Pacific Gas & E. Co. v. G. W. Drayage & Rigging Co., Inc.(1968):[50]The Court held thatparol evidencecould be conditionally received by a trial court to determine if a contract was ambiguous when not ambiguous on its face. This decision has not been followed by the courts of any other state.
  • Rowland v. Christian(1968):[51]The Court abolished the old distinctions between different types of persons entering land and imposed a generalduty of carein the context of the tort ofnegligence.
  • People v. Belous(1969):[52]The Court held the state's criminal statute prohibiting abortions to be unconstitutionally vague, in a 4-3 decision.
  • People v. Anderson(1972):[53]The Court relied upon the state constitutional clause prohibiting "cruel or unusual punishment" (note the difference from the federal Constitution's "cruel and unusual punishment" clause) to abolish capital punishment in California. The state electorate promptlyoverruledAndersonthat same year with apopular initiative,Proposition 17,that kept the "cruel or unusual" clause but declared the death penalty to be neither cruel nor unusual.
  • Pitchess v. Superior Court(1974):[54]The Court held that criminal defendants have a right to access the arresting officer's personnel file when the defendant alleges in an affidavit that the officer used excessive force or lied about the circumstances of the arrest.
  • Li v. Yellow Cab Co.(1975):[55]The Court embracedcomparative negligenceas part of California tort law and rejected strictcontributory negligence.
  • Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California(1976):[56]The Court held that mental health professionals have a duty to protect individuals who are being threatened with bodily harm by a patient. The original 1974 decision mandated warning the threatened individual, but a 1976 rehearing resulted in a decision calling for a "duty to protect" the intended victim, which did not necessarily require that a potential victim be informed of the threat.
  • Marvin v. Marvin(1976):[57]The Court ruled in favor of the enforceability of non-marital relationship contracts, express or implied, to the extent that they arenotfounded purely upon meretricious sexual services. In other words, even though California does not recognize common law marriage, persons who cohabit for long periods of time and commingle their assets are allowed to plead and prove marriage-like contracts for support and division of property.
  • Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Center(1979):[58]The Court found that the broad right to freedom of speech in the state constitution included an implied right to freedom of speech inprivateshopping centers. The U.S. Supreme Court in turn held that the state supreme court's decision did not amount to a"taking"of the shopping center under federal constitutional law.
  • Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories(1980):[59]The Court imposedmarket share liabilityon the makers of fungible hazardous products.
  • Thing v. La Chusa(1989):[60]The Court withdrew from the expansive form of NIED set forth inDillonand imposed a rigid bright-line test for recovery in bystander NIED cases. TheThingdecision included extensivedictahostile to plaintiffs which more generally limited the scope of recovery for both the tort ofnegligenceandemotional distressdamages in California.
  • Moore v. Regents of the University of California(1990):[61]The Court held that patients do not have intellectual property rights in profits from medical discoveries made with their body parts.
  • Wendland v. Wendland(2001):[62]The Court held that in the absence of a legally recognized method of determining who should make medical decisions on the behalf of an incompetent patient, the constitutionalright to lifeandright to privacygranted special protection to the incompetent person.
  • Yount v. City of Sacramento(2008):[63]The Court held that acriminal convictiondoes not limit an individual's right to bring civil action for deprivation of rights in cases of excessive use of force.
  • In re Marriage Cases(2008):[64]The Court held thatsexual orientationis a protected class which requiresstrict scrutinyand under such scrutiny, laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are unconstitutional under the state constitution. The state electorate overturned the marriage portion of the decision that same year by enacting a popular initiative,Proposition 8,but left in place the discrimination protections.
  • Silicon Valley Taxpayers' Assn., Inc. v. Santa Clara County Open Space Authority(2008):[65]The Court unanimously held in aProposition 218( "Right to Vote on Taxes Act" ) case that courts must exercise their independent judgment in reviewing local agency legislative decisions adopting special assessments. The highly deferential standard of review before Proposition 218 became law was grounded inseparation of powers.Because the constitutional provisions of Proposition 218 were of equal dignity to the separation of powers doctrine, it no longer justified allowing a local agency to usurp the judicial function of interpreting and applying the constitutional provisions that governed assessments under Proposition 218.
  • People v. Diaz(2011):[66]The Court held that the warrantless search of information in a cell phone was valid when incident to a lawful arrest. (The holding inDiazwas eventually repudiated by the United States Supreme Court inRiley v. California.)
  • Dynamex v. Superior Court(2018):[67]The Court abandoned the Control Test for the ABC Test and first ruled gig economy workers to be employees. Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye penned this landmark decision. It led to AB5 which made it formalized and retroactive at the same time.

Notable former justices

[edit]
Main article:List of justices of the Supreme Court of California

List of chief justices

[edit]
# Name Image Term
1 Serranus Clinton Hastings 1849–1851
2 Henry A. Lyons 1852
3 Hugh C. Murray 1852–1857
4 David S. Terry 1857–1859
5 Stephen J. Field 1859–1863
6 W. W. Cope 1863–1864
7 Silas W. Sanderson 1864–1866
8 John Currey 1866–1868
9 Lorenzo Sawyer 1868–1870
10 Augustus L. Rhodes 1870–1872
11 Royal T. Sprague 1872
12 William T. Wallace 1872–1879
13 Robert F. Morrison 1879–1887
14 Niles Searls 1887–1889
15 William H. Beatty 1889–1914
16 Matt I. Sullivan 1914–1915
17 Frank M. Angellotti 1915–1921
18 Lucien Shaw 1921–1923
19 Curtis D. Wilbur 1923–1924
20 Louis W. Myers 1924–1926
21 William H. Waste 1926–1940
22 Phil S. Gibson 1940–1964
23 Roger J. Traynor 1964–1970
24 Donald R. Wright 1970–1977
25 Rose Elizabeth Bird 1977–1987
26 Malcolm M. Lucas 1987–1996
27 Ronald M. George 1996–2011
28 Tani Cantil-Sakauye 2011–2023
29 Patricia Guerrero 2023–present

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Contact Us - supreme_court".www.courts.ca.gov.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-09-23.Retrieved2019-09-27.
  2. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalamDear, Jake (2020)."California's First Judicial Staff Attorneys: The Surprising Role That Commissioners Played, 1885–1905, in Creating the Courts of Appeal"(PDF).California Legal History.15:125–161.ISSN1930-4943.OCLC825171095.Retrieved17 September2022.
  3. ^Auto Equity Sales, Inc. v. Superior Court,57 Cal. 2d 450Archived2018-10-04 at theWayback Machine(1962). InAuto Equity Sales,the Court explained: "Under the doctrine ofstare decisis,all tribunals exercising inferior jurisdiction are required to follow decisions of courts exercising superior jurisdiction. Otherwise, the doctrine ofstare decisismakes no sense. The decisions of this court are binding upon and must be followed by all the state courts of California. Decisions of every division of the District Courts of Appeal are binding upon all the justice and municipal courts and upon all the superior courts of this state, and this is so whether or not the superior court is acting as a trial or appellate court. Courts exercising inferior jurisdiction must accept the law declared by courts of superior jurisdiction. It is not their function to attempt to overrule decisions of a higher court. "
  4. ^"Records of the Constitutional Convention of 1849".California Secretary of State.Archivedfrom the original on January 13, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 27,2017.Art. VI, Sec. 3.
  5. ^"California Constitution".California Legislature.Archivedfrom the original on September 28, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 27,2017. Art. VI, Sec. 2, 16(a).
  6. ^Levinson, Jessica A. (May 8, 2014)."Op-Ed: Why voters shouldn't be electing judges".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on April 9, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  7. ^"Codes Display Text".leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-10-31.Retrieved2016-02-07.
  8. ^"Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation".State Bar of California.Archivedfrom the original on June 6, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  9. ^"Commission on Judicial Appointments".California Courts.Archivedfrom the original on May 25, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  10. ^"Article VI, Section 16".Constitution of California.1879.Retrieved2014-12-25.
  11. ^"Judicial Selection in the States".Judicialselection.us.National Center for State Courts.Archivedfrom the original on November 16, 2018.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  12. ^"What Does California's Experience with Recall of Judges Teach Us?".SCOCAblog.UC Berkeley Constitution Law Center and Hastings Law Journal. November 10, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on September 28, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  13. ^Braitman, Jacqueline R.; Uelmen, Gerald F. (2013).Justice Stanley Mosk: A Life at the Center of California Politics and Justice.Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. pp. 224–226.ISBN9781476600710.Archivedfrom the original on 17 May 2016.Retrieved24 December2015.
  14. ^abcSeePeople v. Kelly,40 Cal. 4th 106, 113Archived2018-10-04 at theWayback Machine(2006), which explains the 1879 constitutional convention's decision to create a seven-justice court with two three-justice departments.
  15. ^In a 1972 case,Mosk v. Superior CourtArchived2017-07-10 at theWayback Machine,25 Cal. 3d 479 (1979), judges were selected by lot to serve on the panel after all of the Supreme Court justices recused themselves: "The Chief Justice assigned six Court of Appeal justices, who were selected by lot pursuant to an order by the Supreme Court, to act on the petition."
  16. ^Carma Developers (Cal.), Inc. v. Marathon Development California, Inc.,2 Cal. 4th 342Archived2020-10-05 at theWayback Machine(1992). All members of the Supreme Court recused themselves from the appeal of the First District's decision, so the Third District sat as an "acting" Supreme Court and gave the final opinion in the case.
  17. ^"California Courts – Appellate Court Case Information".Judicial Council of California.Archivedfrom the original on November 7, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 3,2011.
  18. ^"California Courts – Appellate Court Case Information".Judicial Council of California.Archivedfrom the original on July 29, 2020.RetrievedOctober 19,2018.
  19. ^"New California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero Takes Office".
  20. ^Nevis, Sara (January 2, 2023)."Patricia Guerrero makes history as first Latina chief justice in California Supreme Court".The Sacramento Bee.RetrievedJanuary 31,2023.
  21. ^"Press release: Supreme Court Proposes Amendments To Constitution in Death Penalty Appeals"(PDF).California Courts. November 19, 2007.Archived(PDF)from the original on February 11, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  22. ^SeeSnukal v. Flightways Manufacturing, Inc.,23 Cal. 4th 754, 767–768Archived2020-10-05 at theWayback Machine(2000).
  23. ^abcdefghijJustice Goodwin Liu (2014)."How the California Supreme Court Actually Works"(PDF).UCLA Law Review.61:1246.Archived(PDF)from the original on 5 October 2016.Retrieved10 June2016.
  24. ^"From the Bench: Supreme Justice Paterson Resigns".San Francisco Call.Vol. 75, no. 139. California Digital Newspaper Collection. April 28, 1894.Archivedfrom the original on August 23, 2017.RetrievedJuly 4,2017.(Justice Van R. Paterson) grew weary of having to swear to affidavits to the effect that the hundred and one cases under his notice had been disposed of within the statutory ninety days after submission; a proceeding necessary among Supreme Court Justices before one cent of salary can be touched
  25. ^Itir Yakar, "Unseen Staff Attorneys Anchor State's Top Court: Institution's System of Permanent Employees Means Workers Can Outlast the Justices,"San Francisco Daily Journal,30 May 2006, 1.
  26. ^"Press release: State Judicial Staff Attorneys Can Now Help Bridge the Justice Gap".California Courts. May 9, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on July 15, 2017.RetrievedJune 29,2017.Collectively, California's Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal employ over 400 staff attorneys.
  27. ^"Alumni News: Carin Fujisaki '85 Named Principal Attorney to Chief Justice of CA".University of California College of the Law. June 11, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on June 15, 2017.RetrievedJune 29,2017.The Supreme Court is a hive of activity, employing approximately 80 lawyers.
  28. ^California Constitution, Article 6, Section 14Archived2020-07-20 at theWayback Machine.
  29. ^California Constitution, Article 6, Section 19Archived2016-04-09 at theWayback Machine.
  30. ^Sloss, Frank H. (1958)."M. C. Sloss and the California Supreme Court".California Law Review.46(5): 715–738.doi:10.2307/3478622.JSTOR3478622.Archivedfrom the original on October 1, 2017.RetrievedJune 27,2017.The result was that the Department One justices soon became unable to make the monthly constitutional (Art. VI, Sec. 24) affidavit that no cases submitted longer than 90 days remained undecided, without which they could not draw their pay.
  31. ^Ross, Peter V. (1913).California Unreported Cases: Being Those Determined in the Supreme Court and the District Courts of Appeal of the State of California, But Not Officially Reported, with Annotations Showing Their Present Value as Authority, Volume 1.San Francisco, CA: Bender-Moss Company.Retrieved19 August2022.
  32. ^Shalabi v. City of Fontana(2021) 11 Cal.5th 842, 846, fn. 2.
  33. ^Flaherty, Kristina (September 2007)."State Bar celebrates its 80th anniversary".California Bar Journal.Archivedfrom the original on June 23, 2017.RetrievedJune 29,2017.
  34. ^Cooper, Cynthia L. (Winter 2008)."Women Bar Presidents: Changing the Picture and Focus of Leadership"(PDF).Perspectives Magazine.Chicago, IL: American Bar Association: 9.Archived(PDF)from the original on October 1, 2017.RetrievedJune 29,2017.The State Bar of California, a mandatory bar, is the largest in the nation, with 210,000 members— almost a quarter of the nation's lawyers.
  35. ^Cutler, Joyce E."Girardi Probe Shows Internally Corrupt California State Bar",Bloomberg Law, March 13, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  36. ^Joann Lublin, "Trailblazing Bench: California High Court Often Points the Way for Judges Elsewhere,"Wall Street Journal,20 July 1972, 1.
  37. ^Jake Dear and Edward W. Jessen,"Followed Rates" and Leading State Cases, 1940–2005,41 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 683, 694Archived2014-10-18 at theWayback Machine(2007).
  38. ^See, e.g.,NBC Subsidiary (KNBC-TV), Inc. v. Superior CourtArchived2020-10-05 at theWayback Machine,20 Cal. 4th 1178, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 778, 980 P.2d 337 (1999).KNBCand theLos Angeles Timessought access to the trialofSondra Locke's lawsuit againstClint Eastwood.
  39. ^See, e.g.,Reid v. Google, Inc.Archived2020-10-05 at theWayback Machine,50 Cal. 4th 512, 113 Cal. Rptr. 3d 327, 235 P.3d 988 (2010). This wasBrian Reid'sage discriminationlawsuit againstGoogle.
  40. ^ab"Rule 8.1105. Publication of appellate opinions".California Courts.Archivedfrom the original on October 7, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  41. ^"Rule 8.1115. Citation of opinions".California Courts.Archivedfrom the original on May 25, 2017.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
  42. ^4 Cal. 399 (1854)
  43. ^Traynor, Michael. "The Infamous Case ofPeople v. Hall(1854) ".California Supreme Court Historical Society Newsletter(Spring/Summer 2017): 2.
  44. ^13 Cal. 24 (1859)
  45. ^Lee, Blewett (1899). "The Constitutional Power of the Courts Over Admission to the Bar".Harv. L. Rev.8(234): 250.doi:10.2307/1323400.JSTOR1323400.in which the Supreme Court said the legislature cannot require the court to issue opinions in writing.
  46. ^24 Cal. 2d 453, 150 P.2d 436 (1944).
  47. ^32 Cal.2d 711, 198 P.2d 17 (1948).
  48. ^33 Cal. 2d 80, 199 P.2d 1 (1948).
  49. ^68 Cal. 2d 728, 441 P.2d 912, 69 Cal. Rptr. 72 (1968).
  50. ^69 Ca. 2d 33, 442 P.2d 641 (1968).
  51. ^69 Cal. 2d 108, 70 Cal. Rptr. 97, 443 P. 2d 561 (1968).
  52. ^71 Cal. 2d 954, 80 Cal. Rptr. 354 (1969).
  53. ^6 Cal. 3d 628, 100 Cal. Rptr. 152, 493 P.2d 880 (1972).
  54. ^11 Cal. 3d 531, 113 Cal. Rptr. 897, 522 P.2d 305 (1974).
  55. ^13 Cal. 3d 804, 119 Cal. Rptr. 858, 532 P.2d 1226 (1975).
  56. ^17 Cal. 3d 425, 551 P.2d 334, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (1976).
  57. ^18 Cal. 3d 660, 134 Cal. Rptr. 815, 557 P.2d 106 (1976).
  58. ^23 Cal.3d 899, 592 P.2d 341 (1979), aff'd sub nominePruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins,447 U.S. 74, 100 S. Ct. 2035, 64 L. Ed. 2d 741 (1980).
  59. ^26 Cal. 3d 588, 607 P.2d 934, 163 Cal. Rptr. 132 (1980).
  60. ^48 Cal.3d 644, 257 Cal.Rptr. 865, 771 P.2d 814 (1989).
  61. ^51 Cal. 3d 120, 271 Cal. Rptr. 146, 793 P.2d 479 (1990).
  62. ^26 Cal. 4th 519, 110 Cal. Rptr. 2d 4112, 28 P.3d 151 (2001).
  63. ^43 Cal.4th 885, 183 P.3d 471 (2008).
  64. ^43 Cal. 4th 757, 183 P.3d 384, 76 Cal. Rptr. 3d 683 (2008).
  65. ^44 Cal. 4th 431, 79 Cal. Rptr. 3d 312, 187 P. 3d 37 (2008).
  66. ^51 Cal. 4th 84, 244 P.3d 501, 119 Cal. Rptr. 3d 105 (2011).
  67. ^4 Cal.5th 903 (2018).
  68. ^Friedenberg, Albert M. (1902). "Solomon Heydenfeldt: A Jewish Jurist Of Alabama and California".Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society.10(10): 129–140.JSTOR43059669.
[edit]

Media related toSupreme Court of Californiaat Wikimedia Commons

37°46′50″N122°25′04″W/ 37.7806°N 122.4178°W/37.7806; -122.4178

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Supreme_Court_of_California&oldid=1245789710"