Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

 

Page 3

 

Davis Set to Swear in Cooper After Expected Confirmation Today

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Gov. Gray Davis is set to swear in Justice Candace D. Cooper following her anticipated confirmation today as presiding justice of the Court of Appeal’s Div. Eight.

Confirmation appears assured for Cooper, who was rated “exceptionally well qualified” by the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation. The Administrative Office of the Courts reported yesterday that it had not received any letters of objection to Cooper’s elevation.

Also expected to be confirmed following hearings today at the Ronald Reagan Building downtown are Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Boland as associate justice in Div. Eight and Orange Superior Court Judge Richard Aronson to fill a vacancy in the Fourth District, Div. Three.

The nominations are subject to approval by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which includes Chief Justice Ronald M. George and Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein of this district’s Div. Three will be the third member for the Cooper and Boland confirmations, and Presiding Justice Daniel Kremer of the Fourth District, Div. One will sit as the third member during Aronson’s turn before the commission.

The Boland hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m., with hearings for Cooper and Aronson to follow. The governor is expected to speak after he swears in Cooper, sometime after 11:30.

Cooper’s expected elevation to head the court’s newest division comes two years after Davis made her one of his first appointees to the Court of Appeal. She previously served on the Los Angeles Superior Court, where she was supervising judge of the West District.

Scheduled to address the commission on her behalf today are State Bar President Karen Nobumoto, U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter, and Court of Appeal Presiding Justices Vaino Spencer of Div. One and Roger Boren of Div. Two.

Boland, who was a UCLA law professor and associate dean before then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the Superior Court in 1981, was also rated “exceptionally well qualified” by the JNE Commission. Scheduled to speak in his behalf are Beverly Hills attorneys Paul Kiesel and Robin Meadow and Court of Appeal Justice Earl Johnson Jr. of Div. Seven, where Boland is currently sitting on assignment.

Aronson, an Orange Superior Court judge since 1996 and a former court commissioner who was once a Fourth District staff attorney, was rated well qualified by the JNE Commission. Scheduled to speak on his behalf are Div. Three Justice Kathleen O’Leary, retired Orange Superior Court Judge James L. Smith, and Irvine attorney Jennifer L. Keller.

None of the nominees being considered today drew letters of opposition by last week’s deadline, the AOC reported.

 

Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company