SACRAMENTO, Calif. ― Gov. Jerry Brown nominated a Mexican-born Stanford law professor on Tuesday to the California Supreme Court, continuing a trend to diversify one of the most influential courts in the country.
Brown nominated Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, 41, to be an associate justice of the state’s highest court. If approved, the registered Democrat would fill a vacancy created by the retirement in January of conservative Justice Marvin Baxter.
“Tino Cuellar is a renowned scholar who has served two presidents and made significant contributions to both political science and the law,” Brown said in a statement. “His vast knowledge and even temperament will ― without question ― add further luster to our highest court.”
It’s Brown’s second nomination since returning to the governor’s office. In 2011, he filled a vacancy by appointing University of California, Berkeley, law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court after Senate Republicans blocked his nomination to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Democratic governor will have a third opening to fill on the seven-member court when Justice Joyce Kennard retires in April, and he will have more opportunities if he is re-elected to another four-year term in November. That could bring an end to a moderate Republican court dominated by appointees of governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.
Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law school professor who studies the state Supreme Court, said Brown’s second nomination of an academic is a departure from appellate court promotions and means the high court could be more willing to take a fresh look at issues.
Cuellar was born in Matamoros, Mexico, and walked across the border to attend school in Brownsville, Texas, according to the governor’s office. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School and a doctoral degree in political science from Stanford University. He has been a law professor at Stanford since 2001.
