State Chief Justice Ronald George to retire
Ronald George, California's chief justice since 1996 and author of the ruling that briefly legalized same-sex marriage in the state, said Wednesday he will retire in January - a surprise announcement that allows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to choose his successor.
George, 70, has been a judge for 38 years and a member of the state Supreme Court since Gov. Pete Wilson appointed him in 1991.
In interviews since the May 2008 same-sex marriage ruling, George had indicated he planned to seek another 12-year term this November. But he said Wednesday he's decided to step down - not because of sporadic threats of an opposition campaign, or more lucrative work in the private sector, but to have time for himself and his family after years of seven-day workweeks.
"Reflection convinced me now is the right time - while I am at the top of my game - to leave while the proverbial music still plays," George said.
Fan of governor
He also said he wanted his successor to be appointed by Schwarzenegger, whose recent infusion of state funding enabled the courts to end a year of one-day-a-month shutdowns.
"I feel a great sense of reassurance in the exemplary level of appointments this governor has made" and his "commitment to the judicial branch," George said.
Schwarzenegger issued a statement praising George for his "tremendous commitment to justice with extraordinary dedication to upholding impartiality under the law."
Under constitutional timelines, George said, the governor has until Sept. 15 to nominate a candidate who would go before a three-member commission, chaired by George, for confirmation and then appear on the November ballot for a 12-year term beginning in January.
Corrigan on list?
Six of the seven current justices were chosen by Republican governors, including George and Justice Carol Corrigan, Schwarzenegger's lone appointee. Corrigan, 61, a former Alameda County prosecutor with a moderately conservative record since joining the court in 2006, could be on the short list as George's successor.
"I'd look carefully at Corrigan" as a candidate, said Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor and an expert on the court's history. "She has moved to the top rank of productiveness."
If Schwarzenegger chooses Corrigan or another current justice to replace George as chief justice, he would also get to nominate that justice's successor, who would go through the same confirmation process.
George is the third-longest-serving chief justice in California history and one of the most influential judicial figures in recent decades.
He wrote important rulings on abortion, sex discrimination and racial slurs in the workplace, but his most notable and controversial decision was the 4-3 majority opinion two years ago that declared the right of gays and lesbians to marry.
Same-sex rulings
In a decision that overturned a 1977 state law and a 2000 ballot measure, George said the California Constitution's guarantees of personal privacy and autonomy protect "the right of an individual to establish a legally recognized family with the person of one's choice."
Less than six months later, after 18,000 same-sex couples had wed in California, voters overturned the ruling by passing Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment.
The court voted 6-1 to uphold Prop. 8 in May 2009, in a George opinion that validated the pre-election marriages and lamented the ease of passing initiatives in California that affect basic rights. A separate challenge to the ballot measure is pending before a federal judge in San Francisco.
George restated his concerns Wednesday, saying, "Perhaps it is far too easy to amend our Constitution" by initiative. He noted that other states require legislative review or a two-thirds popular vote for constitutional changes.
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which took part in both marriage cases, said Wednesday that George's 2008 ruling was a courageous statement that "the promise of the Constitution extended to everyone."
That legacy, she added, was blemished somewhat by his ruling a year later that "permitted a majority of voters to eliminate that fundamental right."
Abortion consent
The marriage ruling, which prompted some religious conservatives to threaten a 2010 campaign against George, was not his first exposure to controversy.
He wrote 4-3 decision in 1997 overturning a state law requiring parental consent for minors' abortions - a law signed by Wilson, who had appointed him chief justice. Despite an opposition campaign by anti-abortion groups, George easily won a new 12-year term in 1998.
As a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 1981, George refused the district attorney's request to dismiss murder charges against the alleged Hillside Strangler, Angelo Buono, and instead brought in the state attorney general to take over the case. Buono was eventually convicted of nine murders.
In his role as the court system's top administrator, George led a successful campaign at the ballot box in 1998 to consolidate the 220 Municipal and Superior Court districts around the state into 58 countywide Superior Courts. He also engineered rules simplifying jury instructions and making court procedures more accessible to the public and the news media.
As a justice, he has been conservative in criminal cases, particularly capital cases, moderate to liberal on civil rights and other social issues, and typically at the ideological center of his court.
"He led from the center," said Santa Clara's Uelmen. "I think he'll be seen as a moderate who brought a lot of moderation to the court."
George said Wednesday his future will be "devoted to family, reading and travel," and that he has no plans to work as a lawyer or a private judge.
