The Supreme Court has announced the Court of Appeal justices who, for the September calendar cases, will temporarily fill the vacancy created a long time ago by Justice Kathryn Werdegar’s retirement. The pro tem justices — assigned on a mostly alphabetical basis — are:
County of San Diego v. Commission on State Mandates: Fifth District Justice Kathleen A. Meehan. This is Justice Meehan’s first time sitting on the Supreme Court.
People v. Rodas: First District, Division Two, Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline. Justice Kline last served as a pro tem on a case decided last November.
People v. Miracle: Fourth District, Division Three, Justice Raymond Ikola is the pro tem. He last served as a pro tem on the Proposition 66 case, which was decided one year ago.
People v. Buenrostro: Third District Justice Louis Mauro is the pro tem. Justice Mauro is the answer to this trivia question: for the 74 decided cases with pro tems assigned to fill Justice Werdegar’s seat, who is the only pro tem to cast a deciding vote? Justice Mauro was part of the 4-3 majority in T. H. v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., decided last December.
People v. Gomez: Second District, Division Two, Presiding Justice Elwood Lui. Justice Lui last served as a pro tem on a case decided in January.
