Legal Pad

State Supreme Court Gets a New Bag

[Greg Mitchell]

The California Supreme Court will decide if cities must conduct an environmental study before banning  plastic shopping bags. In January, a Second District panel sided with an industry group on a 2-1 vote, saying the city of Manhattan Beach should have first determined the environmental impact of using more paper shopping bags. 

The Save the Plastic Bag Coalition says that paper bags take more energy to manufacture and transport. The S.F. Chronicle story quotes Coalition attorney Stephen Joseph, who wants the high court's ruling to show that "cities and counties shouldn't believe everything they hear from environmental groups."

Independent Attorney Sought for Job of a Lifetime

[Mike McKee]

Hey hungry job seekers! There will soon be an opening for a research attorney on the California Supreme Court. And those don’t pop up very often.

Penny Buckley, one of Justice Joyce Kennard’s chambers attorneys, is leaving at the end of July after a relatively short nine years and counting on the court. Some such attorneys have been on the court for 20 years or far more.

Justice Baxter Says "Don't Sell Yourself Short"

[Mike McKee]

For a guy who aspired to be a farmer, Marvin Baxter has done well.

Not that there’s anything wrong with farming, but serving as a justice on the California Supreme Court is hard to beat.

Baxter, who turns 70 on March 11, took some time after oral arguments on Wednesday to address about 60 students who’d bused up from Fresno City College. He was relaxed and chatty, standing in his judicial robes in the courtroom, a far cry from the more reserved figure he strikes on the bench and in some public venues.

Governor Wants Cal Supremes to Draw Line in the Furlough Sand

[Cheryl Miller]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today asked (.pdf) the Supreme Court to take up seven furlough lawsuit appeals before the appellate courts can rule on them.

The move makes sense economically. The state has already spent $589,000 on litigation costs “with tens of thousands remaining to be billed,” Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola said.

And it’s not like the trial courts have been issuing consistent rulings.

Ronald M. George: Definitely Not a Clinton Donor

It’s official. The Ronald George who contributed to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008 is not California’s chief justice. So says Clinton campaign treasurer Shelly Moskwa, who emailed me today.

"This was an inadvertent clerical error on the Hillary Clinton for President FEC reports," Moskwa wrote. "We are in the process of amending our reports to correct the error."

The conservative FlashReport blog launched the George-supports-Clinton hoopla Monday with an item concluding, erroneously, that the chief justice had violated a canon barring sizable contributions to nonjudicial candidates. Links to the item made the rounds on Twitter.

On Tuesday, FlashReport publisher John Fleischman wrote that he was a "victim" of Clinton campaign “misreporting.”

"There are a couple of important take-aways from this experience," Fleischman wrote. "The first is that I should endeavor, whenever possible (and there was no tight deadline for this piece on the Chief Justice) to contact the subject of a story. The second is to remind everyone that just because it's on the FEC website doesn't mean it is true."

— Cheryl Miller

Ronald M. George: Chief Justice, Ronald F. George: Clinton Donor

Chief Justice Ronald George … a Hillary Clinton supporter?

That’s what the FlashReport Web site claimed this morning when it posted “breaking news” — complete with the image of a flashing siren — that California’s top judge had contributed $2,300 to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign in 2008.

It was strange enough to read that the Republican appointee apparently backed a Democratic presidential wannabe. But more troubling was the fact that, if the claim was true, George’s contributions would have violated a state canon barring jurists from donating more than $500 a year to nonjudicial candidates.

The chief justice’s office has now responded: The Federal Elections Commission — and the FlashReport — got the wrong Ron George, his top aide says.

“I can tell you unequivocally, the chief did not do this,” said Beth Jay, George’s principal attorney. George was attending a conference Monday.

Cal Supremes OK "John Doe" Warrants

The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that an arrest warrant can be issued for an unknown suspect on the basis of DNA evidence.

The ruling, which the Sacramento Bee called "groundbreaking," enables law enforcement to beat filing deadlines in criminal cases without having the name of a suspect in the case. Justice Carlos Moreno, in a dissent, called this a "clever artifice intended solely to satisfy the statute of limitations until the identity of the perpetrator could be discovered."

The opinion affirmed the conviction of a rapist who was named after the six-year statute of limitations for rape had expired. Prior to his identification, the warrant issued for the rapist's arrest had read "John Doe, male black."

— Cynthia Foster