First in a series
[img]2889|right|Leondra Kruger||no_popup[/img]Dateline San Francisco – Extending a generational and ideological transformation of the state Supreme Court, Gov. Jerry Brown tapped 38-year-old Leondra R. Kruger, a former deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Dept. of Justice, to join it – Daily Journal, Nov. 25
The downtown newspaper went on to note two salient facts:
• That Ms. Kruger’s anticipated confirmation will make her the first black on the Court in nine years.
• That Gov. Brown’s two earlier Court nominations, Justice Goodwin Liu in 2011, and Stanford Law School Prof. Mariano-Florentino Cuellar five months ago “fit a similar profile.”
With the liberal governor once again appearing to use ethnicity of his selectees as a dominant metric, a liberal downtown attorney joins a weeklong chorus of critics who have been asking a single question:
“What are Ms. Kruger’s credentials that elevate her over a crowd of more logical nominees?”
The middle-aged attorney, who does not want his name use in this series, did not waste introductory niceties.
Skin color or ethnicity aside, he would paint her green. Her credentials are teetering at the brink.
“She is 38 years old, and she has been an attorney for 13 years,” he said. “The minimum in California is 10 years. My understanding is that she is the youngest justice appointed since 1851.”
From the records available, the attorney questioned whether Ms. Kruger has even practiced law in the state where she will make the most closely watched decisions.
“She has been on what we call inactive status since 2009,” he said from his high-profile office. “It means she passed the bar, at a point, but she has not actually practiced.”
(To be continued)
