High Court Nominee Vows to Emphasize Consensus

U.S. District Judge Carlos R. Moreno, Gov. Gray Davis’ first appointee to the California Supreme Court, said Wednesday he is a consensus builder who looks forward to addressing “critical cutting-edge” social policy on the Republican-dominated court.

“I am approaching the court as the only Democrat among six Republicans, but I don’t think partisan politics are going to play any part in my decisions,” said Moreno, a centrist who is slated to become the high court’s first Latino justice in 12 years.

Moreno, whose appointment Wednesday is expected to be approved next month by a judicial confirmation commission, will fill the vacancy created by the recent death of Justice Stanley Mosk.

A state bar committee that reviewed four candidates for the post gave Moreno a unanimous rating of exceptionally well-qualified, the highest recommendation possible, Davis said. He was the only candidate to receive the highest endorsement unanimously.

Several judges who have served with Moreno described him as friendly and kind, a quiet man with a quick sense of humor and frequent chuckle. His rulings are regarded as generally cautious.

Moreno, 52, who is Mexican American, was born and reared in East Los Angeles and returned to Los Angeles after attending Yale University and Stanford Law School. He said at a news conference Wednesday that his selection proved there is “no goal that cannot be achieved and no dream that cannot be realized.”

Soft-spoken and bespectacled, Moreno spoke first in English and then in Spanish. He said he decided to give up the lifetime tenure of the federal bench because the state high court will allow him “to really address very critical cutting-edge issues involving social policy” and to influence “which direction the law is going to take.”

The jurist is an accomplished legal writer, and Davis said Moreno will ensure that court opinions are “understood and followed.”

Davis described Moreno as “clearly the best judge for the job.”

Moreno’s appointment to the seat formerly held by Mosk will probably shift the court slightly to the right, particularly in criminal law, said University of Santa Clara professor Gerald Uelmen. Mosk was the only Democrat on the seven-member court and one of its most prolific writers and its most liberal jurist.

“Mosk was one of the justices who was most pro-defense in criminal cases,” Uelmen said. “I expect Moreno will be quite moderate and perhaps not as liberal as Mosk on criminal justice issues.”

Luis R. Rodriguez, president of the Mexican American Bar Assn. of Los Angeles County, described Moreno as a “moderate to conservative Democrat.” Rodriguez said Moreno favors abortion rights and the death penalty.

Noting that Latinos make up about a third of the state’s population, Rodriguez said Moreno will be an important symbol to the community.

“It gives another role model, a positive role model,” said Rodriguez, a trial lawyer.

Former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian first appointed Moreno to the Municipal Court in Compton and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson later elevated him to the Los Angeles Superior Court, where Moreno heard criminal cases. Former President Bill Clinton appointed him to the federal district court in Los Angeles.

Moreno, as the 111th California Supreme Court justice, would be its third Latino. Justice John Arguelles, a Republican, served for two years until 1989, and Justice Cruz Reynoso, the first Latino on the court and a Democrat, was defeated for retention in 1986.

Of all Moreno’s decisions as a federal judge, one of his most well-known was an injunction he issued in November 2000 that prevented a Gardena jewelry maker from fleeing to Tijuana after his factory was unionized.

It was the first time that a federal judge had barred a company from relocating outside the country to avoid being unionized.

A spokesman for the California Manufacturer’s Assn. called the ruling “astounding” and “terrible,” but a National Labor Relations Board lawyer described the decision as “a very important victory for employees’ right to organize.”

In a church-state separation case, Moreno in 1998 sided with the Downey Unified School District when it refused to allow a billboard bearing the Ten Commandments to be hung on a high school ballpark’s outfield fence. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Moreno’s ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Moreno’s rulings have been overturned on occasion, including on the day of his appointment. A reporter informed him that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected one of his decisions in a criminal case.

The appeals court said Moreno had abused his discretion as a federal judge by refusing to allow a criminal defendant to fire his court-appointed defense lawyer with whom he was feuding. The defendant was accused of holding illegal immigrants against their will in exchange for ransom payments.

“I have to look that one up,” Moreno said when told of the reversal. He said the appeals court has upheld the vast majority of his rulings.

Davis presented Moreno at a downtown Los Angeles news conference that Moreno’s son, Nicholas, 15, videotaped.

Moreno’s wife, Christine, is an art instructor at East Los Angeles College, and Moreno has a daughter, Keiki, 24, in addition to his son. A niece who has a form of autism also lives with the Moreno family.

The judge said he plans to live in San Francisco, where the Supreme Court is located, and return to his family in Los Angeles on weekends until his son graduates from high school. He will receive an annual salary of $162,409.

Moreno attended Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, where his father owned a cheese and produce wholesale business on Central Avenue. Before becoming a judge, Moreno worked as a prosecutor for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office and practiced civil law in the firm of Kelley, Drye & Warren.

Moreno tries “to take a fair and objective point of view,” said Christopher Arriola, a prosecutor in Santa Clara County and president of the California La Raza Lawyers Assn.

“He does come from a working-class background in East Los Angeles, and the judges bring their life experience to the court,” Arriola said.

California Supreme Court Justice Ming W. Chin, who has traveled on legal business with Moreno, said he will “fit in very, very well” at the court.

“He is very bright and hard-working, and that is exactly what we need here,” Chin said.

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar called Moreno’s selection a “wonderful appointment.”

Members of the California Supreme Court must be approved by voters in single candidate retention elections every 12 years, and Moreno will appear on the ballot in the next statewide general election in 2002. A three-member judicial confirmation commission headed by Chief Justice Ronald M. George is expected to confirm his nomination unanimously on Oct. 17.

The other candidates Davis considered for the state high court were Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dennis Perluss and Court of Appeal Justices Dennis Cornell and Steven Perren.

After naming Moreno to the Supreme Court, Davis appointed Perluss and Richard Mosk, the son of the late justice, to the Court of Appeal in Los Angeles.

Times staff writers Anna Gorman and Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.