Who will be next SCOCA justice?

The DJ has David Carrillo, Brandon Stracener, and Stephen Duvernay's Gov. Newsom will probably go to the appellate bench for the next SCOCA justice

• As the clock ticks away days with an empty California Supreme Court seat, all eyes turn to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Who will he appoint? ... Considering history and the widely reported indications of the governor's future aspirations, the most likely choice is a centrist Court of Appeal justice who will bang out lots of opinions and generate zero headlines, doing no harm to any future political campaigns.
• Past governors have used a wide variety of selection considerations. For his lone appointment to the state high court Gov. Gray Davis tapped federal district court judge Carlos Moreno to replace Stanley Mosk. According to Chief Justice Phil Gibson, Gov. Goodwin Knight had only politics and money in mind when he made his one appointment (Marshall McComb) to the court. Gov. Jerry Brown stands out with his intentional efforts in the 1970s to shake up the court with academics in particular and generally people from outside the traditional track. And Gov. George Deukmejian's mission in his eight appointments was to undo all that Gov. Brown had done.
• Our prediction is that a Court of Appeal justice, with unquestioned bona fides and wide respect, probably male, maybe Hispanic, perhaps not from the Bay Area, goes to the Commission on Judicial Appointments by summer.

The Recorder has As Newsom Makes His Name Out of State, California's Supreme Court Awaits New Justice -- Associate Justice Martin Jenkins left office last year. Will his replacement be chosen through the lens of presidential ambitions?

Jenkins left the Supreme Court at the end of October. In the nearly four months since the veteran jurist’s departure, Newsom has given no indication that his next appointment is on the horizon or even a priority.

See also in the SF Chronical Top court vacancy impacting case flow

The DJ also has Myron Moskovitz's Will AI replace me? -- Although AI can speed up legal research and handle routine analysis, the human intuition and judgment required to persuade appellate judges remain uniquely human strengths.

Bloomberg Law has Solicitor General Pushing Justices to Take More Cases Uninvited

Law.com has Can AI Give You a Seat Inside the Supreme Court? -- A new website, "On he Docket," provides AI-generated videos of justices reading their Supreme Court opinions from the bench.

Next Thursday, Feb. 26, LACBA 's Appellate Section presents an Overview of Appellate Motions (by H&L's David Axelrad and Melissa Whalen) at noon, and also at noon LACBA's Litigation Section presents Protecting the Record on Appeal (by PJ's Edmon and Zukin).