The following is our summary of the Supreme Court’s actions on petitions for review in civil cases from the Court’s conference on Wednesday, January 26, 2011.  The summary includes those civil cases in which (1) review has been granted (not including grant-and-transfers), (2) review has been denied but one or more justices has voted for [...]

The Court’s website has a new photo of the current Court, including new Chief Justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye.  Stay tuned for another new photo after Justice Moreno’s retirement from the Court becomes effective on February 28.

When the Ninth Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to decide a state-law standing question relevant to the federal-court challenge to Proposition 8, we noted that rule 8.548 of the California Rules of Court  allows “any party or other person or entity wanting to support or oppose” the Ninth Circuit’s request to send a letter to the Supreme Court.  [...]

Laura Ernde reports in today’s Daily Journal [subscription required] that new Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye “kept six of the eight staff attorneys who were working for Ronald M. George when he retired at the end of last year,” including  “the three top staffers, Chief Supervising Attorney Jake Dear, Principal Attorney Beth Jay and Supervising Attorney Alice Collins.”  [...]

In “A Second Crack at Prop. 8” in last Wednesday’s Daily Journal [subscription required], Second District Court of Appeal senior judicial attorney Phil Goar has written a thoughtful article about California Rules of Court, rule 8.548, which allows various non-California-state courts to ask the California Supreme Court to answer questions of California law.  It’s a [...]

Maybe it was just a throw-away comment at the end of a column on another topic, but veteran reporter Dan Morain — now a senior editor at the Sacramento Bee — mentioned the intriguing possibility of Governor Brown appointing Boalt Hall law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court as a replacement for retiring Justice Carlos Moreno.  The [...]

The following is our summary of the Supreme Court’s actions on petitions for review in civil cases from the Court’s conference on Wednesday, January 19, 2011. The summary includes those civil cases in which (1) review has been granted (not including grant-and-transfers), (2) review has been denied but one or more justices has voted for [...]

This month’s Los Angeles Lawyer contains an article reviewing the California Supreme Court’s several recent decisions interpreting the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  What we found interesting from a practice perspective is the article’s quotation of Justice Kathryn Werdegar’s Remarks at the State Bar’s 2010 Environmental Law Conference.  There, Justice Werdegar identified the circumstances that [...]

Earlier this week, the California Supreme Court issued a rather unusual order in response to a petition for review.  In a case called In re Pineda, the Court ordered the superior court to answer a pending petition for review.  The text of the order appears on the court’s on-line docket. For those of you who [...]

We noted the concerns of some that the decision in a U.S. Supreme Court case could add to the California Supreme Court’s workload in habeas corpus matters.  In Harrington v. Richter, the SCOTUS raised the question whether a CSC summary denial without comment — a silent denial – of a habeas petition should be deferred to by federal courts [...]

The following is our summary of the Supreme Court’s actions on petitions for review in civil cases from the Court’s conference on Wednesday, January 12, 2011. The summary includes those civil cases, if any, in which (1) review has been granted (not including grant-and-transfers), (2) review has been denied but one or more justices has voted [...]

This month’s California Lawyer contains an in-depth article by Claire Cooper that discusses former Chief Justice Ronald M. George’s legacy as a court administrator.  The article documents how George achieved his goals of state funding for the trial courts, unification of the superior and municipal courts, and the transfer of county court facilities to state [...]

Canon 3(E)(4)&(5) of the California Code of Judicial Ethics states specific rules about when an appellate justice should disqualify himself or herself.  And judges will occasionally explain why they are not disqualifying themselves from a case, as Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt did recently.  But what to make of a Supreme Court justice who [...]

The Supreme Court announced today that tomorrow morning it will file its opinion in Cassel v. Superior Court, raising the questions:  “(1) Are the private conversations of an attorney and client for the purpose of mediation entitled to confidentiality under Evidence Code sections 1115 through 1128? (2) Is an attorney a ‘participant’ in a mediation [...]

In the wake of Justice Carlos Moreno’s recent announcement that he will be stepping down from the Court at the end of February, speculation abounds regarding the identity of his replacement.  Nate Scott at Southern California Appellate News offers this Short List for our consideration.  It is worth paying attention to Mr. Scott’s short lists.  [...]

In this earlier post, we linked to a paper drafted by Horvitz & Levy partner Jeremy Rosen on the future of the California Supreme Court and the impact of the then-impending 2010 gubernatorial election on the future of the Court.  That paper discusses a number of important areas of law in which the Supreme Court [...]

The Supreme Court today posted its February oral argument calendar, which we now know will be Justice Carlos Moreno’s last.  Like the January calendar (conducted yesterday), the court will hear only five cases next month.  These are lighter-than-average calendars, which may be attributable in part to there being a new Chief Justice or to the fact that the [...]

Scott Graham reported yesterday evening on The Recorder’s blog, Legal Pad, that California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno had submitted his resignation to Governor Brown.  This has since been confirmed by The Recorder and the San Jose Mercury News.  His resignation is effective February 28.  In a telephone statement today, Moreno told The Recorder:  “‘I’ve been [...]

The California Supreme Court yesterday heard its first oral argument under Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who was formally sworn in on Monday.  Prior to the argument, the Clerk of the Court and Justice Kennard both commented on the significance of the moment. Clerk of the Court Frederick Ohlrich relayed a personal anecdote to the assembled [...]

The Ninth Circuit yesterday asked the California Supreme Court to answer a state law question that the Ninth Circuit said is “critical” to its decision of the standing issue in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case concerning whether Prop. 8 — the anti-same-sex-marriage initiative — violates the United States Constitution. Most media coverage and commentary of the Ninth [...]