In People v. Johnson, a 5-2 Supreme Court affirmed a conviction for, and special circumstances finding of, carjacking when the victim was killed during a home invasion robbery. Justices Kathryn Werdegar and Goodwin Liu dissented. Today, the court denied rehearing, but new Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar joined the dissenters in voting to grant. The rehearing petition failed because the other newest justice — Leondra Kruger — did not want the case reheard. That’s exactly the same way that rehearing was denied last month in Johnson v. California Department of Justice, the case concerning the constitutionality of distinctions the Legislature made in the Sex Offender Registration Act.
There is still one more “court-in-transition” rehearing petition pending, in Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley. A ruling on that petition was expected today, the last regular weekly conference before the court’s time to rule expires, but the docket has yet to reflect a decision.
