The juror who is trying to protect his Facebook postings from disclosure to a criminal defendant he helped convict got some help from the Supreme Court today.  Last month, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye temporarily stayed a trial court disclosure order.  Now the full court has granted the juror’s petition for review and transferred the case back [...]

A lawsuit to stop a real estate deal that would have turned the Supreme Court and others into tenants with a private landlord appears to be over, because the deal itself is (probably) over.  We noted that new Governor Brown had scuttled the State buildings sale which former Governor Schwarzenegger had approved and that the end of the deal could [...]

We’ve been providing regular coverage of the ongoing controversy between the Alliance of California Judges on the one hand, and the Judicial Council and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) on the other.  As we’ve mentioned, the focus of that dispute is pending Assembly Bill 1208, which, if enacted, would shift substantial authority over [...]

Here it is, hot off the presses, the Court’s 2012 Calendar.  It shows oral argument dates and locations, conference dates and court holidays.

The Supreme Court won’t be filing any opinions this Monday.  That day will mark four weeks without a new high court opinion, an unusually long drought except for the times following the court’s no-oral-argument summers. The explanation is Justice Carlos Moreno’s retirement and his decision to not accept an assignment as a pro tem justice after his retirement [...]

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, March 23, 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 [...]

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye released a “California Courts News Alert” video Tuesday in which she outlined her “immediate priorities” concerning the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the Judicial Council.  The Chief explained that she is appointing a Strategic Evaluation Committee (or SEC) to examine the AOC from “top to bottom.”  The SEC is to [...]

Bill Vickrey, Administrative Director of the Courts, had been planning to retire last year but agreed to serve a bit longer for the sake of stability and continuity as stewardship over the California courts passed from Chief Justice Ronald M. George to Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.  As noted in this press release, having stayed on [...]

In Wednesday’s Daily Journal [subscription required], Laura Ernde had an article regarding the justices’ recent filings of their annual Statements of Economic Interest.  This year’s statements show that five of the six justices hold oil industry stocks.  This is noteworthy because, in November 2007, four justices’ ownership of oil company defendants’ stock compelled those justices’ [...]

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, March 16, 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 [...]

Former Chief Justice Ronald M. George was interviewed today by Southern California Public Radio’s Patt Morrison.  In the interview, George discusses numerous topics, including California’s initiative process, the long and complex state Constitution, the death penalty as applied in California, the state of California’s courts and judiciary, the need for civics education in public schools, [...]

The Recorder’s Legal Pad reports today that the California Judges Association will be polling its members—active and retired judges and commissioners at all levels in the state judiciary—about their views on the proposed Trial Court Rights Act (AB 1208).  As has previously been reported, that act challenges measures instituted over time under the watch of former Chief Justice Ron George, [...]

Further to this post, in which we evaluated the different rates at which the Supreme Court grants review depending on the appellate district issuing the decision, we thought it would be interesting to determine whether there are discernible differences in the rate at which the Court grants review in civil cases depending on the Court [...]

The Court held no conference on Wednesday, March 9, because it was hearing oral argument in San Francisco.  Accordingly, this week no action will be taken on petitions for review and no opinions will be ordered published or depublished.

The Supreme Court today posted its oral argument calendar for April.  Like the March calendar for yesterday and today, each case will be heard by a different temporary justice – assigned, as the calendar notes, under “the court’s established alphabetical rotation procedure.” It’s now been over two months since Justice Moreno announced his retirement.  Although there has been [...]

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, March 2, 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 current issue of California Lawyer magazine includes an interesting and informative article by Santa Clara University law professor and California Supreme Court watcher Gerald F. Uelmen.  It discusses what Uelmen regards as the ten worst opinions issued by the California Supreme Court in its long and storied history.  To select the ten worst opinions, [...]

When the Supreme Court agreed to answer the Ninth Circuit’s question about standing under California law to help the federal appellate court decide its case about Prop. 8, the Supreme Court set an expedited briefing schedule.  That wasn’t fast enough for the Prop. 8 opponents, who asked the Supreme Court to further shorten the briefing [...]

As we mentioned here, the California courts have been in the process of developing a new website for some time.    That site was launched on February 28 and can be found at www.courts.ca.gov.  We’ve taken the new website’s Guided Tour and, based on our preliminary review, we think the new site is user friendly and [...]

Irell & Manella’s website announced today that Justice Carlos Moreno has joined the firm.  The website quotes Moreno as saying: “‘It is an honor for me to join Irell & Manella, a firm whose attorneys exemplify excellence in the legal profession. . . . I look forward to my return to the private sector and [...]