The California Judiciary

1
The California Judiciary
2
Law and Politics Separate Worlds?

• Judges are not legislators
• Legislators/governors are not judges

3
Gay Marriage in CA An Example of Shared Powers

• Proposition 22
• Passage of the Gender-Neutral Marriage Bill
• Governors veto

4
Why so much judicial policymaking?

• Divided Government
• Weak Political Parties
• Fragmented Govt Demand for Rights/Protections
• The Initiative Process
• Term Limits

5
Should Legal Policymaking Make Us Nervous?

• The judiciary has no influence over either
  the sword or the purse no direction either of
  the strength or of the wealth of the society and
  can take no active resolution whatever. It may
  truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but
  merely judgment and must ultimately depend upon
  the aid of the executive arm even for the
  efficacy of its judgments.
• Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 78

6
Levels of the California Judiciary

• Superior Courts
• Courts of Appeal
• Supreme Court

7
Superior Courts

• 58 trial courts one per county
• 1,499 judges
• Most cases begin and end here

8
Courts of Appeal

• 6 Districts
• 105 justices
• Mandatory review

9
Supreme Court

• 7 justices (1 chief justice and 6 associate
  justices)
• Relatively diverse
• Majority are Republican Appointees
• Discretionary review
• Decisions are binding statewide

10
Climbing the Judicial Ladder Bakke v. Regents of
the UC

• Allan Bakke white male, twice rejected from UC
  Davis Medical School
• Superior Court of Yolo County Bakke v. Regents
  of the UC (1974)
• Supreme Court of California Bakke v. Regents of
  the UC (1976)
• Supreme Court of the United States Regents of
  the UC v. Bakke (1978)

11
Judicial Selection and Removal

• Formal Qualifications admitted to practice law
  in CA for at least 10 years
• Superior Court judges elected to 6 year terms
• Appeals and Supreme Court justices appointed by
  the governor, screened by the Commission on
  Judicial Appointments, and approved by the voters
  to 12 year terms
• Commission on Judicial Performance can fire judges

12
Politics of Criminal Law

• Three Strikes
• Death Penalty

13
Criminal Sentencing and Removing Judges Chief
Justice Rose Bird

• 1977-1987
• First Female Chief Justice
• Voted against the death penalty in all 61 cases
  before her
• 1986 Election Chief Justice Bird and Justices
  Reynoso and Grodin removed from office

14
Problems Facing the California Judiciary

• Caseload
• Majoritarian Political Pressures
• Funding

15
Should we embrace the overlap between law and
politics?