Deukmejian Chooses Ex-Aide for High Court : Judiciary: If confirmed, Appellate Justice Marvin R. Baxter would succeed retiring Justice David N. Eagleson.

Gov. George Deukmejian announced Saturday that he will nominate Appellate Justice Marvin R. Baxter, a key former aide who helped the governor make more than 600 state judicial appointments, to a forthcoming vacancy on the California Supreme Court.

Baxter, a lifelong resident of Fresno now serving there on the state Court of Appeal, would become the first justice from the San Joaquin Valley to serve on the state high court since 1859.

The 50-year-old jurist served for five years as Deukmejian’s appointments secretary before the governor named him to the appeals court in October, 1988. Previous high court appointees named by Deukmejian have generally had more experience on the bench.

If confirmed by the state Judicial Appointments Commission and then approved by voters in the fall election, Baxter would begin a 12-year term, succeeding Justice David N. Eagleson, who is retiring from the state Supreme Court in January.

Deukmejian, announcing the selection on his regular Saturday radio show, described Baxter as a “fair but tough judge who respects the law and the principle of judicial restraint”--a doctrine favored by conservatives that holds that expansive changes in the law should be made by legislation, not by court rulings.

“Justice Baxter understands that the role of judges is to fairly and impartially interpret the law and that our judicial system should show as much compassion for the victims of crime and their families as it does for defendants,” the governor said.

Baxter would join a high court that recently has been plagued by unusually rapid turnover, adding to the burdens of a heavy caseload and a backlog of about 170 death-penalty appeals. Two justices appointed by Deukmejian in 1987--John A. Arguelles and Marcus M. Kaufman--have already retired and entered private law practice. The impending retirement of Eagleson, another 1987 Deukmejian appointee, will mark the third such departure in less than two years.

In an interview Saturday, Baxter said he was “honored by the nomination and the governor’s expression of confidence” and that, if confirmed, he would look forward to a long tenure on the high court.

He noted, for example, that he would not reach a point where he could obtain maximum judicial retirement benefits until about 2008. “I would intend to serve as long as I am able to,” he said.

Baxter, a graduate of Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and former Fresno County prosecutor, already has left a substantial imprint on the California judiciary through his five-year service as the governor’s appointments secretary.

In that post, he was responsible for the management and coordination of all gubernatorial appointments--including the more than 600 judicial appointments the governor made during the period.

“The appointments secretary job was a wonderful position,” Baxter recalled Saturday. “That whole exercise of reviewing the records of prospective applicants and then briefing the governor was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Baxter would be joining a high court that has undergone a major philosophical shift since the defeat of Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and two other liberal court members in the November, 1986, election.

Now the court, under Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas, is markedly more conservative, affirming roughly three-quarters of the death-penalty judgments it reviews and granting employers, insurers and other businesses major victories they hardly could have expected from the liberal-dominated Bird court.

Currently, five justices are regarded as conservatives or moderates: Lucas, 63; Edward A. Panelli, 58; Eagleson, 65; Joyce L. Kennard, 49, and Armand Arabian, 55. The two other justices, named by Democratic governors, are seen as liberals: Stanley Mosk, 77; and Allen E. Broussard, 61.

Baxter’s record as an appeals court judge covers less than two years and thus provides only limited indications of how he may perform on the state Supreme Court. But associates have said they would expect him to follow the same moderately conservative judicial course as other Deukmejian appointees.

In a ruling last December, Baxter, writing the appeal court’s opinion in a case involving the state news media “shield” law, held that reporters may be required to testify in a civil case about the observations they make while gathering news. The law, he said, protects reporters only from disclosing information from confidential sources.

Last May, the state Supreme Court ruled, however, that reporters may refuse to disclose non-confidential information in certain circumstances.

In other rulings, Baxter held last April that a Tuolumne County man could be prosecuted for burglary for the unauthorized entry of his estranged wife’s residence and in March allowed a narcotics-possession prosecution against a Kern County man although a potential witness for the defense had been deported.

In June, 1989, Baxter issued a unanimous opinion reversing the drug conviction of a Latino defendant because the prosecution had improperly excluded two prospective jurors with Spanish surnames.

The prosecutor had defended the use of peremptory challenges to remove the jurors on the grounds that newly naturalized citizens have difficulty understanding English and American law.

Baxter said the prosecutor relied on a “blanket characterization” without questioning the jurors to determine whether they did understand. “The exercise of the peremptory challenge clearly resulted in decision-making by racial stereotype,” he said.

Baxter’s nomination to the $115,161 post is expected to be reviewed by the appointments commission in about 30 days. The three-member commission is made up of Lucas, state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp and senior Presiding Appellate Justice Lester W. Roth of Los Angeles. If confirmed, as is likely, Baxter would then be subject to a confirmation vote on the November ballot.

DEUKMEJIAN’S CHOICE FOR THE HIGH COURT

The seven state Supreme Court justices serve 12-year terms after which they may seek another term in a confirmation election. Associate justices receive $115,161 a year. The chief justice earns $120,764 annually.

“I am honored by the nomination and the governor’s expression of confidence. I look forward to serving on the state’s highest court and appreciate the opportunity for continued public service at that level.” --Marvin R. Baxter

MARVIN R. BAXTER

Born: Fowler, Calif., in Fresno County.

Age: 50

Education: Fowler Union High School; Fresno State College, B.A., economics, 1962; student body president; law degree, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco.

Legal experience: Two years as deputy district attorney in Fresno County; private practice, 12 years in Fresno as a partner in the firm of Andrews, Andrews, Thaxter, Jones & Baxter; served on 5th District Court of Appeal, Fresno, from December, 1988, to present.

Judicial philosophy: Observers expect him to follow a moderately conservative course.

Family: Baxter married Jane Pippert in 1963. The couple have two children, Laura Jane, now a law student at Stanford, and Brent Marvin, a student at UC Berkeley.