Thursday, July 31, 2014

Aug. 28 Hearing date for nominees

Hearings to consider judicial seats on the Supreme Court of California, and the Court of Appeal Second and Third Appellate Districts

SAN FRANCISCO—Four public hearings have been scheduled by the Commission on Judicial Appointments for Thursday, August 28, 2014, beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Ronald M. George State Office Complex, Earl Warren Building, 350 McAllister Street, Fourth Floor, San Francisco:
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Professor Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
Commission members: Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (Chair), Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Senior Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Mr. Jonathan K. Renner, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District (Sacramento)
Commission members: Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (Chair), Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Administrative Presiding Justice Vance W. Raye
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Judge Lee S. Edmon, as Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three (Los Angeles)
Commission members: Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (Chair), Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Senior Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein
2:15 – 3:15 p.m. Judge Brian M. Hoffstadt, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Two (Los Angeles)
Commission members: Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (Chair), Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Senior Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein

Summary Biographies
Professor Cuéllar fills the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Associate Justice Marvin R. Baxter on January 4, 2015. He has been a Stanford Law School professor since 2001 and was appointed Stanley Morrison Professor of Law in 2012. Professor Cuéllar has been director of Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies since 2013, Professor of Political Science at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences since 2010, and was co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation from 2011 to 2013. He serves as a presidential appointee to the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Constitution Project, the American Law Institute Council and the American Constitution Society Board of Directors.
Professor Cuéllar co-chaired the National Equity and Excellence Commission created by Congress from 2011 to 2013. Under President Obama, he served as special assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council in 2009 and 2010 and was co-chair of the Obama-Biden Transition’s Immigration Policy Working Group in 2008 and 2009. He was a law clerk to Judge Mary M. Schroeder at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2000 to 2001 and a senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1997 to 1999.
Mr. Renner fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Associate Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye to Chief Justice of California in 2011. He has served as legal affairs secretary in the Office of Governor Brown since 2011 and as senior assistant attorney general at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 2009 to 2010, where he was supervising deputy attorney general from 2006 to 2009 and deputy attorney general from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Renner was an associate at Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann and Girard from 1998 to 2000 and at Porter, Scott, Weiberg and Delehant from 1997 to 1998.
Judge Edmon fills the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein on January 4, 2015 and has served as a judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles since 2000, where she served as Presiding Judge from 2011 to 2012. She was partner at Dewey Ballantine LLP from 1990 to 2000, where she was an associate from 1987 to 1990, and was an associate at Adams Duque and Hazeltine from 1981 to 1987. Judge Edmon was president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association from 1998 to 1999.
Judge Hoffstadt fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Justice Kathyrn D. Todd and has served as a judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles since 2010. He was a partner at Jones Day from 2007 to 2010 and served as an assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 2000 to 2007, as senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Policy Development from 1998 to 2000, and at the Federal Communications Commission, Office of General Counsel from 1997 to 1998. Judge Hoffstadt was a law clerk for Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1996 to 1997 and for Judge Cynthia H. Hall at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1995 to 1996.
Testimony and Comment
Anyone wishing to testify before the commission must state that request in writing and include a summary of the facts on which any testimony or opinion will be based. A request to be included on the speakers’ list must be received by the commission by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 21, 2014.
And all communications to the commission by persons who wish to comment should be received by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 21, 2014.
The commission’s address is:
Commission on Judicial Appointments
c/o Chief Justice of California
Supreme Court of California
350 McAllister Street
San Francisco, California 94102
Attention: Secretary to the Commission on Judicial Appointments
The Guidelines for the Commission on Judicial Appointments are published as an appendix to the California Rules of Court and are available on the California Courts website.