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, September 28, 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 [...]

As described in this news release, the Chief Justice delivered her First Annual Address to the State Bar in Long Beach on September 17.  A major theme of the address was the recent severe cuts to the judicial branch’s budget and how she plans to respond to those cuts.  The Chief also heralded a “new [...]

Rule 8.512(d)(2) allows the Supreme Court to grant review in a case and then “order action in the matter deferred until the court disposes of another matter,” commonly known as a grant-and-hold order.  Typically, a grant-and-hold case is one raising the same legal issue that is already before the court in “another matter,” called the lead case. After the court [...]

In a recent article in the Daily Journal [subscription required], Don DeBenedictis reports that Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye delivered a fiery speech against AB 1208, the Trial Court Rights Act, last week at the annual dinner of the California Women Lawyers.   As we’ve discussed, the bill would shift control over trial court funding from 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, September 21, 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 [...]

In the past, we’ve been criticized for not including many photos in our blog posts.  In an effort to remedy that, here is a photo of the Court, including new Associate Justice Goodwin Liu, taken at the recent special oral argument session held at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.     [...]

As we mentioned here, a resolution was recently placed before the Conference of California Bar Associations to recommend legislation amending the Rules of Court and the Government Code to require that all legal citations in documents filed in California courts be in the style of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.  The goal of [...]

We’ve noted how the Supreme Court could get involved in the politically-charged redistriciting process, either by deciding a writ petition challenging newly drawn district maps — a petition over which the court has original and exclusive jurisdiction — or by possibly staying implementation of the maps if a referendum is likely to qualify for the ballot and, [...]

Tonight at 9 pm, KOCE, the Southern California PBS-affiliate, will be airing filmmaker Abby Ginzberg’s documentary about former Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, entitled “Cruz Reynoso:  Sowing the Seeds of Justice.”  According to this Orange County Register article, the film covers Justice Reynoso’s early life as one of 11 children in a family of migrant [...]

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, September 14, 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 [...]

In a pair of articles by Kate Moser that are part of its recent “Women Leaders in the Law” feature, The Recorder has fittingly paid tribute to Justices Joyce Kennard and Kathryn Mickle Werdegar as early leaders of women in the profession.  Justice Kennard was only the second woman ever to serve on the Court, [...]

Under rule 8.548, the California Supreme Court can decide questions of California law on request of various courts from other jurisdictions.  The Supreme Court is not required to answer questions posed by other courts, but it agrees to do so more often than not. Stanford Law School’s very helpful SCOCAL website now includes a table [...]

It might seem incongruous to have legendary California Supreme Court Justice (and later Chief Justice) Roger Traynor on the same list with musicians The Beach Boys and Carlos Santana and basketball star Magic Johnson.  But it makes sense once you learn that they are all part of the 2011 class of inductees into the California Hall [...]

This month’s California Lawyer magazine contains an excellent article by Santa Clara University law professor Gerald F. Uelmen that assesses the Court’s performance during fiscal year 2010-2011, with emphasis on its first six months under the leadership of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.  Uelmen notes that the Court’s productivity continued to hover below normal, with 98 [...]

The Supreme Court today posted its October oral argument calendar.  The six cases to be heard all have one thing in common — none is named Brinker.  However, one of the cases — Harris v. Superior Court — is even older than Brinker.  The court granted review in Harris in November 2007, 11 months before [...]

The Court is holding no conference today because it is hearing oral argument at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.  Accordingly, this week no action will be taken on petitions for review and no opinions will be ordered published or depublished.

This morning the Court heard argument regarding whether the proponents of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the California Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, have standing under California law to defend the measure against a federal constitutional challenge in the Ninth Circuit.  The argument comes less than seven months after the Court agreed to answer [...]

In January, a 5-2 Supreme Court held in People v. Diaz that “the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution permits law enforcement officers, approximately 90 minutes after lawfully arresting a suspect and transporting him to a detention facility, to conduct a warrantless search of the text message folder of a cell phone they take from [...]

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, August 31, 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 [...]

If you want to watch Governor Brown swear in Goodwin Liu as a Supreme Court justice at noon today, the California Channel is the place to go.  Liu’s appointment to the court was confirmed yesterday.  You can now watch a tape of the confirmation hearing here.