The Following Piece Is Exclusive to Fox & Hounds Daily
The recent retirement announcement from California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George reminds us that the governor has very important appointment powers.
A governor’s judicial nominees speak volumes about their guiding principles. Moreover, these appointees – and their decisions – live long after the governor who appointed them has left office.
Californians expect their governor to take these appointments seriously, and I want people to know what I would expect of those whom I would appoint to the bench.
First, impartiality and open-mindedness. I will appoint Californians who have demonstrated their ability to be unbiased, and respectful of the enormous influence that the judicial system has in shaping our lives.
Second, an understanding that they interpret, not make laws. My judicial appointees would have to show vigorous intellect and respect for strict interpretation of the law. The Legislature and governor pass and enact laws, judges do not. I would not appoint an activist judge or anyone who would treat a judgeship as an opportunity to legislate from the bench. The very best judges use their wisdom to interpret the law, not rewrite it or allow their personal passions to interfere with decision-making.
Third, I will search out judges who are tough on crime and respectful of victims’ rights. There’s nothing more painful than being a crime victim. I will appoint judges who understand and respect the trauma endured by crime victims, and who share my commitment to supporting those victims, supporting law enforcement and punishing the criminals who would prey on innocent Californians.
Californians deserve only the very best judges. My opponent has a track record of appointing some of the very worst. Though he has been out of the governor’s office for nearly three decades, California is recovering from decisions made by Jerry Brown’s liberal, soft-on-crime, activist judges.
As governor, by his own estimate, Jerry Brown appointed 800 of some 1,200 judges. His Democratic allies acknowledged Gov. Brown chose judges for "shock value", to reward friends and campaign contributors and to create controversy, in certain instances overlooking the most qualified. The California Judicial Council also criticized Gov. Brown for moving far too slowly to fill more than 50 vacancies. Half a year passed before Brown made his first judicial appointment.
In 1978, the Los Angeles Times wrote that a wide spectrum of judges and lawyers had "concerns about Gov. Brown’s judicial appointments–that they are made on the basis of cronyism and lack quality.” The same paper in 1992 found that "there was a striking correlation between campaign gifts he received and one of the most important responsibilities of his office: the appointment of judges."
And on at least eight occasions, Gov. Brown blatantly ignored the will of the voters by reappointing judges whom earlier had been voted out of office.
But no single appointment came to symbolize the failed Brown era more than his choice to serve as Chief Justice of California’s highest court: Rose Bird. Brown appointed Bird, a fierce opponent of the death penalty like Brown, to be Chief Justice in 1977. Today, according to statewide surveys, 70 percent of Californians support the death penalty.
As Governor, however, Jerry Brown vetoed a death penalty law and had to be overridden by a bipartisan vote of the State Legislature. Californians eventually voted to expand the death penalty law.
But that didn’t stop Brown’s appointed Chief Justice Bird. Bird voted to overturn death sentences in 64 individual cases; in fact, she voted to overturn every death penalty case that came before her. In a 1985 decision that brought national condemnation, Bird voted to overturn the death penalty sentence of Theodore Frank who had been sentenced to die for the torture and murder of a two-year-old.
"Justice,” Bird once said, "is when the defense wins."
Again, the people had to take action to overcome Brown’s failure to make sound judicial appointments. Outraged voters ousted Bird and two other anti-death penalty justices, also appointed by Brown, years after Brown left office.
At the time of Bird’s death in 1999, The New York Times wrote "to this day, Ms. Bird’s name remains a kind of reflexive shorthand in California for "soft-on-crime liberal."
I have a strong record in my 30 years in business of appointing the right people to the right jobs. By contrast, Brown, according to the late Democratic State Senator Al Alquist, "seems to have gone out of his way to appoint people who are extremely controversial. ….He’s appointed so many incompetent people."
I have the deepest respect for a robust and responsible judicial system, based on impartial judges who will follow the law. If elected, I will owe an obligation to every Californian to appoint the very best people possible. To do less would be a breach of trust with the citizens of California.