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 column is mostly about how President Obama’s nomination of Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has been prevented from even having a vote in the Senate, but it finishes: “Then again, if Republicans outmaneuver Democrats on Liu’s confirmation, there is another court a few blocks from the 9th Circuit Court headquarters in San Francisco. California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno is retiring, and Gov. Jerry Brown is searching for a replacement.”