A reporter asked Governor Brown at a recent press conference whether it was a factor in his choice of Professor Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar for the Supreme Court that Cuéllar is Latino. She also asked whether the governor was concerned about Cuéllar’s lack of judicial experience. Brown answered yes to the former and no to the latter.
The Governor said he is “not unaware of the diversity of California and the growing importance of people” of Latin American descent. “When 50 percent of the kids [in] kindergarten through 12th grade are of Latin descent,” Brown continued, “it’s important that they see in all the positions of power people who[m] they identify with.” He also said that, in advance of his trip to Mexico, he was “very glad” that he “was able to appoint a Mexican immigrant.”
The Governor was quick to add that Cuéllar “is a very accomplished individual” and praised him as a “brilliant” and “very even-tempered person.” Brown said he read the first and last chapters of Cuéllar’s Ph.D. dissertation and was very impressed by it. Also, noting Cuéllar’s law school alma mater, which is the same as Justice Goodwin Liu’s, Brown joked that he has “yet to appoint a non-Yale graduate to the Supreme Court” during his second stint as governor.
Besides the Yale law degree, Cuéllar shares with Liu a non-judicial background. Brown said that Cuéllar not having judicial experience is of no concern to him. “Neither did Earl Warren, nor Chief Justice Roger Traynor,” the Governor said, “nor did [William O.] Douglas, nor did [Hugo] Black.” (Not to be too picky, but Black did serve briefly and part time as a police court magistrate in his early 20’s.)
