Friday, August 1, 2014
Page 3
Confirmation Hearings Set for Aug. 28 for Supreme Court, C.A. Nominees
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Commission on Judicial Appointments has set a series of confirmation hearings for Aug. 28 for four of Gov. Jerry Brown’s announced judicial nominees.
Brown has previously declared his intent to nominate Professor Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar to the state Supreme Court, Legal Affairs Secretary Jonathan K. Renner to the Third District Court of Appeal, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lee S. Edmon to be presiding justice in Div. Three of this district’s Court of Appeal, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brian M. Hoffstadt to be associate justice in this district’s Div. Two.
Each of the nominees needs confirmation by the commission, and approval of voters Nov. 4, to serve a full 12-year term.
Cuéllar would succeed Justice Marvin Baxter, and Edmon would succeed Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, who as the state’s senior presiding justice, gets a vote on each of those nominees. Baxter and Klein have each previously said that they would not file a declaration of candidacy for retention.
Renner would succeed Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, whose seat on the Court of Appeal has been vacant since she was elevated to chief justice in January 2011. Hoffstadt would take the seat from which Justice Kathryn Doi Todd retired last year.
There is still one Supreme Court vacancy, resulting from Justice Joyce L. Kennard’s retirement, and several Court of Appeal vacancies, including three in this district, for which no nominations have been announced. But the terms for those positions are not expiring, as is the case with the seats for which Cuéllar, Renner, Edmon, and Hoffstadt have been nominated.
The Aug. 28 hearings will take place in the Supreme Court’s San Francisco courtroom. Cuéllar’s hearing is set to take place from 9 to 11 a.m., Renner’s from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Edmon’s from 1 to 2 p.m., and Hoffstadt’s from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
The commission has set Aug. 21 at 5 p.m. as the deadline for submitting written comments on the nominees and requests to speak at the hearings. It requires that those asking to speak submit a summary of what they intend to say.
The commission asked that comments and requests to speak be sent to Commission on Judicial Appointments c/o Chief Justice of California, Supreme Court of California, 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco, California 94102 Attention: Secretary to the Commission on Judicial Appointments.
Copyright 2014, Metropolitan News Company