Although I hate political labels, it is pretty obvious that liberals will control all branches of California government for many decades.

Brown has successfully transformed the California Supreme Court from a (4-3) right-leaning tribunal to a solid left-wing branch.

I expect that Chin, Corrigan and the CJ will be dissenting a lot as the new majority moves the court to the left.

And I expect that the clock will be turned back (in the direction of the Bird court) on most criminal justice issues, many of which will be decided by the new majority under the "independent force" of the California Constitution.

Keep your eyes on what the court does with the Buza arrestee DNA case. I expect a 4-3 opinion affirming Justice Kline. If Baxter were still there, I believe it would have been 4-3 overruling Kline's California Constitution based opinion.

CJLF will certainly have an uphill battle before the newly constituted court.

I hate political labels too, but I recall reading somewhere that the last judicial nomination based solely on merit (not politics) was Benjamin Cardozo to the Supreme Court.

I think if we believe diversity is a worthy value for judicial selection, it should encompass more than the race and gender of the nominee. One idea that floats to my mind, is to have a least one justice from each of the appellate districts (which are geographically divided). Not sure if any other state does that but seems like an easy way to get some practical diversity.

Once upon a time, when the "circuit justice" was actually the presiding judge of the circuit court, being from the circuit was considered a qualification for U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Those days are, of course, long gone.