A very interesting civics lesson took place last Thursday at the California Supreme Court Building in San Francisco. The Commission on Judicial Appointments (made up of Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron George, Attorney General Jerry Brown and 5th District Court of Appeals Presiding Justice James Ardiaz) held a hearing on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s appointment of Senator Chuck Poochigian to the 5th District Court of Appeals.
Poochigian asked Anthony Capozzi, a Fresno lawyer and former president of the State Bar, former state assembly member Kerry Mazzoni and three appellate judges (Justices Vance Raye, Brad Hill and Stephen Kane) to speak on his behalf. Only one group spoke against his nomination, an activist group that criticized his voting records on LGBT issues but admitted to AG Brown that they had absolutely no evidence of any bias towards that population by Sen. Poochigian. As Justice Hill told the panel:
“As you have seen from the letters of support submitted for Senator Poochigian, he is a man whose hallmark is having an open mind and listening to all sides before making a reasoned and thoughtful decision. Whenever you have the likes of Martha Escutia and Jim Rogan singing your praises from far across the aisle, little else needs to be said about your reputation for listening to all views in a manner that is fair to all concerned.”
Some of the most interesting parts of the appointments hearing was the back and forth between Poochigian and Brown. It seemed to some of us watching that Brown intended to confirm Poochigian, but was seeking political cover before the actual vote. Brown seemed fixated on the LGBT group testimony. At one point, Poochigian reminded the panel that his family had suffered political persecution in Armenia and he was as tolerant and open-minded as anyone. He made the point that one can differ on public policy but agree on overarching issues of discrimination and the importance of the rule of law. He then said, “Look, no one has ever called me a Neanderthal” to which Brown quipped, “Well, I think I did [during the campaign].” The room had a good chuckle at that.
It was not a good day for the California State Bar. Before the hearing, the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation leaked their rating of Sen. Poochigian, which was “unqualified.” That breach is now being investigated. At the hearing, the State Bar representative, Jonathon Wolff, ultimately admitted that the rating was given only because of the time that had lapsed since Poochigian had been in trial. Those that spoke on Poochigian’s behalf—and George and Ardiaz—argued that the rating was not valid because it did not take into account Poochigian’s legal experience in the legislature or the executive branch. Many people pointed out that a law change in 2007 required judicial evaluations to take into account a broad range of experience and that the Commission’s evaluation sheet that was sent out to hundreds of people did not include any specific question about legislative experience. Many speakers also raised the names of judges appointed to the appellate court without any trial court experience (including judges appointed by Edmund and Jerry Brown!) who had stellar judicial careers.
For those FR readers who are interested, I’m including the text of several of the people who spoke in support of Sen. Poochigian at the hearing (thanks to Fresno County Supervisor Debbie Poochigian for kindly sending this along to me when asked). All of the speakers were very eloquent and spot on when it comes to Sen. Poochigian. I particularly liked Justice Kane’s closing:
"I will conclude my remarks by mentioning one more important aspect of this man that further augments his qualifications to serve on the appellate court. I refer to one of Chuck’s lifelong character traits. That trait is HUMILITY. Someone once wrote, “Humble people don’t think less of themselves. They just think about themselves less.” Those words capture the essence of someone whose devotion to public service is deep and genuine. Those words describe Chuck Poochigian."
Congratulations, Justice Poochigian! The 5th District Court of Appeals is lucky to have you.