Justice Liu’s plea for death penalty changes by others is consistent with his past suggestions for legislative action in different areas

Last week, Justice Goodwin Liu criticized California’s death penalty system, but he left it to others — “the voters and our elected representatives” — not the courts to effect change.  Justice Liu’s concurring opinion in People v. Potts was his most publicized recommendation for legislative action, but he’s used court opinions for that purpose before, on topics such as Miranda rights for minors and juvenile dependency law (here and here).  Other justices have done that, too.  (See here.)  And the Legislature and Governor sometimes have responded positively to those suggestions.  (See here, here, and here.)