Groupthink dictates different treatment of “judicial independence.” Judges usually manage to stay out of the news, but two of them in California have been getting lots of national attention lately: U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego, and Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aar…
California
Not So Fast, Kamala Harris
Once thought a shoo-in to be California’s next senator, the rising Democratic star might be in for a surprise in November. In the wacky world of California politics, it’s a virtual certainty that no Republican will make it past the June 7 primary in the race to succeed retiring U.S. senator B…
Building the Left’s Judicial Farm Team
Sticking with the state court theme of my last series of posts, I now turn to what Governor Jerry Brown is doing with judicial appointments in California. State courts are vitally important in their own right, but they can also serve as credential-building “pit stops” for judges ultimately bo…
The Closing Of The Liberal Mind
As the Left attains hegemony in areas such as law and higher education, beliefs harden into orthodoxy, and dissent is treated as heresy. If you are a liberal lawyer from San Francisco, stop reading now. You will likely be annoyed, or offended. If you are among the “rest of us,” read on, for a…
Blacklisting the Boy Scouts
California’s judicial advisory committee rules that judges can’t participate in scouting. California judges can belong to the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the NAACP, La Raza, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Mothers A…
The Battle of Mount Soledad
The ACLU won’t stop until a San Diego war memorial is razed. Atop San Diego’s Mount Soledad—an 822-foot hill overlooking the seaside village of La Jolla—sits a 29-foot concrete cross. Erected in 1954 to commemorate Korean War veterans, the cross is part of a 170-acre, city-owned park offe…
A “Mind-blower” of a Nominee
For judicial appointments, Jerry Brown values diversity over experience. Once upon a time, Americans held seasoned judges and legal practitioners in esteem. Lewis Powell, Henry Friendly, Louis Brandeis, and Charles Evan Hughes were all accomplished lawyers in private practice before they served o…
Thomas Jefferson’s Folly
California’s worst-performing law school illustrates the moral hazard of federal student loans. Investors can make bad decisions, and businesses sometimes fail due to unforeseeable market conditions. But Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s impending default on $133 million in tax-exempt bonds wa…
California’s New Mandarins
Jerry Brown’s latest state Supreme Court nominee reinforces a bad trend. As expected, Governor Jerry Brown used the latest vacancy on the California Supreme Court to nominate a left-wing Latino. Last week, Brown named Mariano-Florentino (“Tino”) Cuéllar to replace Marvin Baxter, a conserva…
Affirmative Action Antics
“Diversity” trumps honesty and the rule of law at UCLA. Higher education is in free fall. At college campuses around the nation, protestors veto mainstream commencement speakers, students receive “trigger warnings” when exposed to uncomfortable ideas, and trendy radical dogma regularly di…