A judicial review panel in the coming weeks is expected to confirm two gay men to serve on the state's appellate courts and elevate a lesbian appeals court justice to preside over her bench. They will bring the number of known LGBTQ appellate justices in the state to seven, with three serving in presiding justices positions.
Earlier this year Governor Gavin Newsom nominated Laurie M. Earl, who sits on the state's Third District Court of Appeal, to serve as its presiding justice. She is set to succeed retired presiding justice Vance W. Raye.
In 2021, Newsom had tapped Earl for a vacancy on her appellate court. The former Sacramento County Superior Court judge was confirmed in January 2022 to become the Third District's first known justice from the LGBTQ community.
The Commission on Judicial Appointments consisting of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the senior presiding justice of the respective appellate court — for the Third District it is currently Acting Presiding Justice Ronald Robie — will meet at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 10, to consider Earl's elevation.
Since 2018 gay San Francisco resident James M. Humes has been the administrative presiding justice of the First Appellate District. In 2014, Humes had become the presiding justice of the First District Court of Appeal's Division One just two years after becoming the state's first out member of an appellate court.
Last November, lesbian San Francisco resident Therese Stewart won confirmation to become presiding justice of the First District Court of Appeal's Division Two. In 2014, Stewart became the first out female appellate court justice in the state.
Before becoming a judge, Earl had been a senior assistant inspector general at the California Office of Inspector General from 2004 to 2005 and a deputy district attorney at the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office from 1995 to 2004. She graduated from the Lincoln Law School of Sacramento.
Also at next month's hearing the Commission on Judicial Appointments will consider Newsom's nomination of his deputy judicial appointments secretary, Gonzalo Martinez, to serve as an associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Seven. Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the court will be the third member of the review panel voting to confirm Martinez.
If confirmed, the Alameda County resident would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Laurie D. Zelon. Martinez, a graduate of Harvard Law School, has worked for Newsom since 2019 after spending two years as a deputy solicitor general in the California Attorney General's Office. He was also a partner in the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group at Squire Patton Boggs from 2007 to 2017 and in 2019.
At 10 a.m. this Friday, June 23, the judicial review body will take up Newsom's nomination of San Diego Superior Court Judge David Rubin to serve as an associate justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One. Rubin will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Cynthia G. Aaron once confirmed.
Rubin, who earned his law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law, has served on his Superior Court bench since 2007. Before his judicial appointment he had worked as a deputy district attorney at the San Diego County District Attorney's Office since 1987.
Martinez and Rubin will each earn $264,542 as appeals court justices and double out representation in their respective appellate districts. Martinez will be the second gay man in the Second District, serving alongside Associate Justice Luis A. Lavin, while Rubin will serve with lesbian Associate Justice Marsha G. Slough in the Fourth District.
The hearings will both take place in the Supreme Court Courtroom, located on the fourth floor of 350 McAllister Street in San Francisco. With seating limited, the proceedings will also be webcast live on the California Courts Newsroom. (https://newsroom.courts.ca.gov/)
Other hearings
At Friday's hearing Hume will join the judicial review panel as its third member when it considers Newsom's nomination of Judge Danny Chou as an associate justice of the First District Court of Appeal, Division Five. A San Mateo County Superior Court judge since 2018, Chou would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Henry E. Needham.
Prior to joining the Peninsula bench, Chou was an assistant county counsel at the Santa Clara County Counsel's Office from 2012 to 2018. He had come from the San Francisco City Attorney's Office where he had served as chief of appellate litigation from 2006 to 2008 and then as chief of complex and special litigation.
The judicial review panel at the July hearing will also consider the appointments of Justice Brian Currey as presiding justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four, and Judge Helen Zukin as an associate justice on the Los Angeles-based appellate court. Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the Second District is set to be the third member.
Currey, an associate justice of the appellate court division since 2018, would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Nora Manella. Zukin would take Currey's seat on the bench.
The online Political Notes column is going on a brief summer hiatus. It will return Monday, July 10.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or e-mail [email protected]
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