Stanton v. Panish

I must respectfully dissent from this “By the Court” opinion for two important reasons.

I

The issue before this court is a relatively simple one. The state Constitution provides that if a vacancy occurs in a superior court judgeship in an election year, the Governor is to appoint the replacement who then must run for that position at the next general election. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 16, subd. (c).) The question presented is whether this court should completely rewrite this section to achieve a result that the court deems preferable. I submit this is not our function and the attempt to do so…