California Governor Appoints 12 New Judges
Not to be outdone by President Trump, who is poised to nominate a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. Jerry Brown stepped into the limelight by naming 12 new judges in California.
Unlike the president, the governor does not have to go through a confirmation process for most of his appointees. There is no confirmation for Superior Court judges in California.
Brown's appeals court nominees, however, will have to be approved by the state Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Fifth District Court of Appeal can't wait.
Two Appellate Appointments
The Fresno-based appeals court has fallen behind other appellate districts in percentage of published majority opinions. According to court statistics, the Fifth District is also the slowest in the state in filing opinions on criminal appeals.
In other words, the Fifth District court needs help. After adding a judge in late 2016, the governor has named two more: Thomas Desantos and Mark W. Snauffer.
Desantos, 61, fills a vacancy left by the death of Justice Gene M. Gomes. DeSantos has been a Superior Court Judge in Kings County since 2003.
Snauffer, 64, has been a judge of the Fresno County Superior Court since 2000.
Ten Superior Court Appointments
There are too many Superior Court appointments to name them all here, but you can read all their names here.
Los Angeles County -- with four new judges -- gets the lion's share of them. They are Robert G. Chu, Maria Puente-Porras, Gary D. Roberts, and Emily S. Garcia Uhrig.
Chu, 38, is the youngest of the new judges in the state. He has been a deputy public defender since 2006.
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