"Earth is Not Flat"

That's the title of today's must-read column by Justice Gilbert. His topic? "There are people who believe that a president should not appoint a person directly to the United States Supreme Court unless the appointee has had prior judicial experience. The same goes for a governor making direct appointments to the state Supreme Court or to the Court of Appeal. I have not seen evidence to support this notion."


His evidence? "In California, one of the great jurists of the 20th century, Roger Traynor, was directly appointed to the California Supreme Court. Other luminaries Raymond Peters was directly appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1939. And Mathew Tobriner was directly appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1959, and three years later to the California Supreme Court." AND "In recent times governors from both parties have made direct appointments to the Court of Appeal. They include Justices Daniel Kolkey, Earl Johnson, Andrea Hoch, Coleman Blease, Jim Humes, Peter Siggins, Therese Stewart, Charles Poochigian and Richard Mosk, though prior to his appointment he sat as a judge on the Iranian-United States Claims Tribunal at The Hague."

In typical fashion, as the article continues it mentions not only Lamar Baker, Elwood Lui and John Segal [about this trio, see Commission to Consider Three Appointments to Court of Appeal re their 7/23 hearings] but also Einstein, Napoleon, Thomas Crapper, and Al Gore...

Elsewhere in today's DJ, Justice Gilbert is also quoted in LA Federal Judge Mariana Pfaelzer Hailed as 'The Model for Lady Justice.'

"If there was ever any doubt about the brilliance of women as legal scholars who are outstanding jurists she certainly disproved that," Gilbert said. "She was one of the giants." "You mention her name and everyone would say if she decided it, it must be right," Gilbert added. "She had that reputation." 

Friday's DJ also had a roundup of California Law School Commencement speakers. Here are the SoCal Schools and their speakers: UCI had Barbara Boxer, Loyola had  David Burcham, Pepperdine had Mark Lanier, Chapman had 9th Circuit "Justice" McKeown [when will the DJ ever get that right?!], Cal Western had Justice Goodwin Liu, UCLA had Martine Rothblatt, and USC had Judge Andre Birotte.