Emily Green has an interesting profile of Professor — and Supreme Court Justice-elect — Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar in today’s Daily Journal [subscription]. Details include that the governor’s office contacted Cuéllar about a Supreme Court appointment in 2011 when Justice Moreno retired; Cuéllar “begged off” and the seat went to Goodwin Liu. Also, Cuéllar suggests that he will join Liu in using, at least in part, annual law clerks instead of relying solely on career staff attorneys; he stresses the positives both of ” ‘getting an interesting perspective inside the judiciary, as well as preparing people to be ambassadors of the institution and to understand the institution better as they go into practice.’ ”
The photo accompanying Green’s article shows Cuéllar sitting next to a tower of 15 books, none of which seems like blockbuster screenplay material. Among the books are “Political Order and Political Decay,” “Democracy and Distrust,” “The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy,” “The Winds of Freedom,” and “Still Ours to Lead.”
