Associate Justice

Appointed: Aug. 13, 1984 Named by: George Deukmejian Background: Associate Justice, Court of Appeal; Presiding Judge, Santa Clara County Superior Court; Probate Judge; Presiding Judge, Juvenile Court; General Counsel, University of Santa Clara; private law practice. Organizations: Faculty member, Calif. Judicial College; lecturer, Univ. of Santa Clara School of Law; Calif. Judges Foundation; National Conf. of Christians and Jews; Board of Trustees, Univ. of Santa Clara; Calif. Judges Assn.

The command center of Andrew Breitbart's growing media empire is a suite of offices on Sawtelle Boulevard in West Los Angeles with the temporary feel of a campaign office. Only the computers seem firmly anchored. On a recent summer day, just weeks after he posted video clips that touched off a national furor over race, Breitbart was swigging a bottled Frappuccino at his desk. In a Lacoste shirt, cargo shorts and laceless Converse All-Stars, he looked every bit the 41-year-old industry player he might have been, but for a political awakening that transformed this liberal, West Side child of privilege into a Hollywood-hating, mainstream-media-loathing conservative.

Donald Pitts McCullum, a civil rights leader and California jurist, has died at the age of 60 after a long battle with cancer. The native of Little Rock, Ark., was an associate justice of the state Court of Appeals in 1981. He died last Sunday at St. Luke's Convalescent Hospital in San Leandro.

The text of Justice John Paul Stevens' retirement letter to President Obama: My dear Mr. President: Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the court's next term, I shall retire from regular active service as an associate justice, under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 371 (b), effective the next day after the court rises for the summer recess this year.

Justice William J. Brennan Jr. sent the following letter to President Bush. "My dear Mr. President: "The strenuous demand of court work and its related duties required or expected of a justice appear at this time to be incompatible with my advancing age and medical condition. "I therefore retire effective immediately as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States."

Here is the text of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's letter to President Bush announcing his retirement: My dear Mr. President: The strenuous demands of court work and its related duties required or expected of a justice appear at this time to be incompatible with my advancing age and medical condition. I, therefore, retire as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States when my successor is qualified. Respectfully, Thurgood Marshall

* Edward A. Panelli, a California Supreme Court associate justice, has joined the judicial panel of Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services Inc., an Orange-based private arbitration and mediation service. Panelli, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1985 by former Gov. George Deukmejian, retired from his unexpired 12-year appointment.

Gov. George Deukmejian formally appointed state Supreme Court Justice Malcolm M. Lucas as chief justice of California. Deukmejian had announced his intention to name Lucas chief justice on Nov. 26, but he could not make the formal appointment until Rose Elizabeth Bird's term had expired. Lucas, 59, a law partner of Deukmejian in the 1960s, served 12 years as a federal district judge before Deukmejian appointed him as associate justice of the state Supreme Court in 1984.

I have been quite aware of Lapham's dedication to the mediocre. That is why I no longer subscribe to Harper's. But his piece reminds me of the deathless proposal of the late Roman Hruska, GOP senator from my native Nebraska. Hruska defended President Richard Nixon's nomination of the utterly mediocre G. Harold Carswell to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court by claiming that the mediocrities of our fair land deserved to have one of their own represent them on the highest court.

The text of Justice John Paul Stevens' retirement letter to President Obama: My dear Mr. President: Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the court's next term, I shall retire from regular active service as an associate justice, under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 371 (b), effective the next day after the court rises for the summer recess this year.

'The justice in the bow tie' April 20, 1920: Born John Paul Stevens in Chicago, the youngest of four sons to a successful hotel owner. 1941: Graduates Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in English literature. June 7, 1942: Marries Elizabeth Jane Sheeren; they have four children (John Joseph, Kathryn, Elizabeth Jane and Susan Roberta). 1942: Begins three years of service in the U.S. Naval Reserve, earning a Bronze Star as a code-breaker.

American Original The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Joan Biskupic Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 436 pp., $28 To begin, a few snapshots from the life of Justice Antonin Scalia: As a young boy, he failed the entrance exam to a prestigious high school. Six decades later, he's still kicking himself over a question he got wrong. He was passed over by Princeton. He was passed over again by President Ronald Reagan for solicitor general, and yet again by President George W. Bush for chief justice.

Sonia Sotomayor became the 111th Supreme Court justice in the nation's history today, taking an oath to "administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and to the rich." Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered the oath in a ceremonial conference room at the Supreme Court before a small gathering of Sotomayor's family and friends, and a handful of White House aides who had worked on her confirmation. Roberts said the special swearing-in was arranged for a quiet morning so that Sotomayor could "begin her work as an associate justice without delay."

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has received the stamp of approval from the American Bar Assn. less than a week before her confirmation hearing begins on Capitol Hill. Sotomayor, a sitting federal appeals judge in New York, was deemed "well qualified" to serve as an associate justice on the high court by an ABA panel -- the highest rating the national attorney organization bestows. The White House was notified by a letter Tuesday to counsel Gregory Craig.

Judge Arthur L. Alarcon identifies with Los Angeles' old downtown Hall of Justice: It was built in 1925, the same year the federal appeals court judge was born, and is where he started his legal career more than 50 years ago. Alarcon, 81, an avid walker and gardener, is in much better physical shape than the building, which closed in 1994 for safety reasons and over the years had fallen into shambles.

Re "A Real-Life High Court," Commentary, Nov. 16: Jim Newton suggests that President Eisenhower chose a non-judge, Gov. Earl Warren, to be chief justice in recognition of the value of nonjudicial experience. Contemporary witnesses attribute the appointment more to gratitude for Warren's support at the 1952 GOP National Convention. Richard M. Mosk Associate Justice California Court of Appeal and Warren Commission staff member, Los Angeles Re "Breaking the Siege in the Judge War," Commentary, Nov. 16: John Lott and Sonya Jones write that the confirmation rate for President Bush's judicial nominees is historically low. In particular, they claim that only 69% of Bush's nominees to federal appeals courts and 33% of his nominees to the District of Columbia Appeals Court have been confirmed.

The Nov. 4 "Designing Women" show was tragically funny. Copies of this episode should be sent to all U.S. senators, especially those who chose to vote for confirmation of Clarence Thomas as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Thomas should have asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration since George Bush didn't have the guts to do it. The men in this country should be as angry as the women depicted in last night's broadcast. It is a shame that "an old boys' club" is allowed to continue to exist as it does in Congress!

Voters in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties will be asked Tuesday to cast "yes" or "no" votes for 11 justices on the 2nd District Court of Appeal. Their names may be unfamiliar, but they hold California's second most powerful judicial posts--the final arbiters of justice in more than 90% of appeals. Court of Appeal justices face voters in the first gubernatorial election after their appointments and every 12 years after that.

My colleagues and I share the concern expressed by your letter writers (Oct. 16) about information available on judicial officers who appear on the November ballot. The administrative office of the courts has established a Web site that contains biographies of each of the justices as well as access to recent Supreme Court and Court of Appeal opinions at www.courtinfo.ca.gov /courts/courtsofappeal/2nd District/justices.htm. Our hearings, conducted on the third floor of the Ronald Reagan State Building, 300 S. Spring St. in L.A., are open to the public.

Voters in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties will be asked Tuesday to cast "yes" or "no" votes for 11 justices on the 2nd District Court of Appeal. Their names may be unfamiliar, but they hold California's second most powerful judicial posts--the final arbiters of justice in more than 90% of appeals. Court of Appeal justices face voters in the first gubernatorial election after their appointments and every 12 years after that.