California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, one of three members of a judicial confirmation panel, has expressed "concern" about the legal rulings of one of two candidates Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering for an open slot on the California Supreme Court, Lockyer's spokesman said Thursday.
Nathan Barankin, the spokesman, said Lockyer had not made up his mind on whether to oppose 3rd District Court of Appeal Justice Vance Raye if the governor nominates him for the state's highest court.
But "there are some [court] opinions that have given him concern," Barankin said.
Among the legal decisions that trouble Lockyer was a ruling this year in which Raye joined two other appellate justices in deciding that Home Depot was not liable for creating a hostile work environment at two stores in the Sacramento area.
An African American former employee said white managers and employees at the stores hurled racial epithets and insults at black workers. The court panel, in Hollingsworth vs. Home Depot, said there was insufficient evidence to back up the claims.
Asked whether Lockyer has told Schwarzenegger of his concerns, Barankin said: "There have been conversations with representatives in the governor's office about the vacancy. I won't go any further than that."
Barankin was responding to a report in The Recorder, a legal newspaper, about a meeting Lockyer had with Alameda County lawyers a few weeks ago in which he expressed strong reservations about Raye. Despite that meeting, Barankin said Thursday that Lockyer has "not taken a position on Vance Raye."
Lockyer is one of three members of a commission that must vote to confirm the governor's nominees for the appellate bench. The others are Chief Justice Ronald M. George, a moderate Republican, and Court of Appeal Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, a Democrat.
A lawyer who heard Lockyer speak at the Sept. 16 meeting of the Alameda County Democratic Lawyers Club said the attorney general told the group that he would strongly oppose Raye's nomination and he sought suggestions for other potential candidates for the state high court.
"He was adamantly against Raye," said the lawyer, who asked not to be identified, in an interview Thursday.
Raye declined to comment on the case that upset Lockyer but said he had voted the opposite way in a similar case -- Smith vs. Del Webb -- after concluding there was enough evidence of racial animus to justify a trial.
