By now you've no doubt read (or at least read about) the concurring opinion in B.B. v. County of Los Angeles (Aug. 20, 2020) 10 Cal.5th 1 (see pp. 53-62 here) as well as the Supreme Court's Statement on Equality. This month's Gilbert Submits DJ column is On the other hand ...which asks "Despite its passion and strength, does this concurring opinion belong here?"
- Maybe because of the race and circumstances under which the decedent died, the similarities to the George Floyd murder, the concurring opinion was justified. But would the message of the concurring justices been better expressed in a law review article, and not in an opinion where the decedent happened to be African-American?
- On the other hand, these views are a legitimate expression of the changing landscape of a systemic national issue that all our governmental political institutions should acknowledge as often as possible. Are they not an expansion of what all members of the court expressed in its June declaration? "On the other hand..."
For some outstanding and useful blogging from Cal Appellate Report and At the Lectern, see here and here and here.
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