Thursday, July 8, 2010
Page 3
Commission Sets Hearing on Detjen’s Fifth District C.A. Nomination
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Commission on Judicial Appointments said yesterday that it has scheduled a public meeting Aug. 6 to consider Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nomination of Madera Superior Court Judge Jennifer R.S. Detjen to the Fifth District Court of Appeal.
The meeting is set for Friday Aug. 6 at 11 a.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom at the Earl Warren Building at 350 McAllister Street in San Francisco.
Members of the commission who will consider Detjen’s nomination are Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the commission’s chair; Attorney General Jerry Brown; and Fifth District Presiding Justice James A. Ardaiz.
The commission is soliciting comments and testimony on the nomination. The deadline for written comments and requests to testify in person is 5 p.m. on Friday, July 30. Requests to speak must include a summary of the facts on which any testimony or opinion will be based, under the commission’s guidelines.
The commission requests that correspondence be addressed to the chief justice at the Supreme Court, 350 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102.
The California Constitution specifies that a gubernatorial appointment to the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal is “effective when confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.”
Schwarzenegger on June 30 nominated Detjen, 55, to succeed Justice Steve Vartabedian, who retired March 31.
Detjen joined the Madera Superior Court in 2001 after serving as senior deputy district attorney for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office from 1985 to 2001 and a deputy district attorney for the Madera County District Attorney’s Office from 1982 to 1985. She served as the court’s presiding judge from 2005 to 2006, and currently presides over its Appellate Department.
A Republican, she joined the State Bar in 1982 after attending the University of Washington and law school at the University of San Diego.
Schwarzenegger is expected to make another nomination to the Fifth District this summer to replace Ardaiz, who said last month that he will step down at the conclusion of his term in January after more than 30 years on the bench.
Ardaiz, 62, has been the Fifth District’s administrative presiding justice since 1994. He told the MetNews he was retiring rather than seek retention to another 12-year term in order to avoid a provision in the state Constitution that would bar him from accepting any other public posts if he stepped down before that term concluded in early 2023.
He said he was announcing his retirement in order to give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger adequate time before a Sept. 16 deadline to name a candidate to replace him. That candidate will be subject to confirmation by the commission and voters’ approval on the November ballot.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company