Supreme Speculation

Who will the Governor nominate to the Cal. Supreme Court?

Informed sources say the Governor likely has a candidate in mind, a decision possibly reached in collaboration with Chief Justice George.

Who would this be?  The standard candidate pool is the California appellate bench.  From those 100 or so appellate justices, the Governor and the Chief would probably prefer someone with experience in court administration -- the Chief Justice handles many administrative responsibilities in addition to deciding cases and writing opinions. 

That suggests an Administrative Presiding Justice or Presiding Justice of a Court of Appeal district.  Those are:

• 1 DCA:  APJ William R. McGuiness
• 2 DCA:  APJ Roger W. Boren
• 3 DCA:  PJ Arthur G. Scotland
• 4 DCA:  APJ Judith McConnell
• 5 DCA:  PJ James A. Ardaiz
• 6 DCA:  PJ Conrad L. Rushing

Justice Ardaiz is also retiring, as reported on this blog, so that eliminates him. 

We'll explore some non-APJ possibilities tomorrow.