Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, June 27, 2019

 

Page 1

 

Governor Dispenses With ‘Secret Committees’ To Evaluate Judicial Appointment-Seekers

Sets Up Eight Regional Committees of Advisers, Identifies Members

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday identifed members of committees in eight regions of the state who will be providing feedback to him on potential judicial appointees, thus dispensing with “secret committees” used by his precessors for decades.

Newsom said:

“Judges make decisions every day that affect every Californian. The people of our state have little insight on the process by which judges are chosen, it is only fair that the public knows who is helping to select the people who will serve them.

“I thank the new members of the Judicial Selection Advisory Committees for taking on this essential function of our democracy.”

Los Angeles Members

Seventeen persons were identified as members of the Judicial Selection Advisory Committee (“JSAC”) for Los Angeles County.

Providing appellate court perspective are former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, Presiding Justice Elwood Lui of this district’s Div. Two, and Court of Appeal Justice Lamar Baker of this district’s Div. Five.

Los Angeles Superior Court judges named to the committe are Holly Fujie, Rupa Goswami, Dean Hansel, Michelle Kim, Sergio Tapia II, Bobbi Tillmon, Michelle Williams-Court and Helen Zukin.

Attorneys who were named to the committee are Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney Victoria Adams, Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office Division Chief Luis Rodriguez (a former State Bar president), and private practitioners Madison Fairchild, Eric George, Thomas Girardi, and Roman Silberfeld.

Additional Input

Governors are statutorily obligated to submit names of possible appointees to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, although some, through the years, have questioned whether the Legislature may condition the governor’s exercise of a state constitutional function in appointing judges. Input has also been received from such sources as the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Judicial Appointments Committee.

The announcement yesterday said:

“All feedback from the JSACs is advisory in nature only, and will be considered by the Governor’s Office in combination with evaluations provided by the State Bar of California and county and affinity bar associations.”

Other JSACs were formed for the Bay Area, Central Coast, Central Valley, Inland Empire, Northern California, Orange and San Diego regions.

Suggestions for Membership

Members of the JSACs were selected by Judicial Appointments Secretary Justice Martin Jenkins, a former Court of Appeal justice.

It was reported that suggestions to him for appointees to the JSACs were made by groups which included the California Women Lawyers; Mexican American Bar Association; California Asian Pacific American Bar Association; California Association of Black Lawyers; California Latino Judges Association; California Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Judges Association; the Judicial Council of the California Association of Black Lawyers; and the Association of African American California Judicial Officers.

Three members of the Court of Appeal for this district who are on Div. Six—which serves Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties—were appointed to the JSAC for the Central Coast. They are Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert and Justices Steven Perren and Martin Tangeman.

 

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