SAN FRANCISCO — In the coming months, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have his first shot at filling a vacancy on the state Supreme Court, a choice that could give moderates a solid majority or continue the court's longtime conservative tilt.
The influential seven-member panel has the final word on the vast majority of cases brought in California, including the emotional decision, expected soon, on whether same-sex marriage should be legal. His selection will replace Janice Rogers Brown, a conservative who left to join the federal bench.
But Schwarzenegger's pick is not expected to generate the kind of controversy boiling over a replacement for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who announced her retirement last week. Unlike President Bush's nominations, which have been predictably conservative, Schwarzenegger's appointments to the lower courts have reflected diversity, both in political party and legal background.
Since his election almost two years ago, Schwarzenegger has appointed nearly as many Democrats as Republicans, and even placed on the bench several criminal-defense lawyers, a group largely ignored by several recent administrations.
Of 70 judges the Republican governor has appointed since he took office, 37 have been Republicans, 25 have been Democrats and eight have been Independents or have declined to state their party affiliation.
"In my recollection, we have never had as bipartisan [an] approach to judicial appointments," said California Chief Justice Ronald M. George, a Republican.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Alex Ricciardulli, who came from the county public defender's office, said being a Democrat was a "nonissue" when Schwarzenegger's administration considered him for the court.
"I had an application pending with [former Gov. Gray] Davis for six years, and nothing happened," Ricciardulli said. "I put my application in with Gov. Schwarzenegger in June of 2004 and was appointed in March of 2005."
San Diego County Superior Court Judge Francis M. Devaney, 50, who worked for 21 years in the San Diego city attorney's office, said the whole process of his selection was "kind of mysterious."
He said he went into his interview with Schwarzenegger's judicial advisor, John Davies, having heard about "a litmus test" but mostly just gossiped with him about San Diego politics. Devaney grew up in a New York family of Democrats and describes himself as an Independent who votes for both parties.
