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Carol Corrigan
2006 - Present
2031
19
Carol Corrigan is a judge of the California Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2006. Her current term ends on January 5, 2031.
Corrigan ran for re-election for judge of the California Supreme Court. She won in the retention election on November 6, 2018.
Corrigan was appointed to the court in December 2005 by former Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Corrigan was retained by voters to a full 12-year term in November 2006. To read more about judicial selection in California, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Corrigan received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Corrigan earned her undergraduate degree from Holy Names College in 1970. She then attended a clinical psychology doctoral program at St. Louis University, from 1970 to 1972, before enrolling in the University of California-Hastings College of the Law, where she earned a J.D. in 1975.[3]
Prior to assuming her seat on the state supreme court in 2006, Corrigan served as an associate justice on the California Court of Appeals from 1994 to 2006, a judge on the Alameda County Superior Court from 1991 to 1994, and a judge for the Oakland, Emeryville Piedmont Judicial District from 1989 to 1991. She also served as a senior district attorney in Alameda County from 1985 to 1987, and as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County from 1975 to 1985.[4][3]
Corrigan was awarded Jurist of the Year in 2003 by the Judicial Council of California. She was a board member on the President's Commission on Organized Crime from 1983 to 1986, and served as a special consultant on the President's Task Force on Victims of Violent Crime in 1982. Corrigan also was a member of the Judicial Council of California from 1997 to 2001, and served as the chair of the council's Task Force on Jury Instructions. She served on the board of the Center for Judicial Education & Research from 1994 to 1997.[3]
Elections
2018
- See also: California Supreme Court elections, 2018
California Supreme Court
Carol Corrigan was retained to the California Supreme Court on November 6, 2018 with 69.8% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
69.8
|
6,539,085 | ||
No |
30.2
|
2,833,205 | |||
Total Votes |
9,372,290 | ||||
|
|
2006
| California Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2006 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
Carol Corrigan 
|
4,304,376 | 74.4% | ||
| Against retention | 1,483,509 | 25.6% | ||
- Click here for 2006 General Election Results from the California Secretary of State.
1994
| California First District Court of Appeal, Associate Justice 1994 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Carol Corrigan
|
669,213 | 71.5% | ||
| Against retention | 267,008 | 28.5% | ||
- Click here for 1994 General Election Results from the California Secretary of State.
1992
Corrigan ran unopposed in 1992 to retain her seat on the Alameda County Superior Court.[5]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[6]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[7]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Carol
Corrigan
California
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Corrigan was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Corrigan received a campaign finance score of 0.55 indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Corrigan received a campaign finance score of 0.55, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of -0.32 that justices received in California.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[8]
State supreme court judicial selection in California
- See also: Judicial selection in California
The seven justices of the California Supreme Court are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The state bar's Commission on Judicial Nominee Evaluation—also known as the "Jenny Commission"—is required to perform an extensive investigation on prospective appointees. The commission recommends candidates to the governor after examining their qualifications and fitness, ranking them as exceptionally well qualified, well qualified, qualified, or not qualified. The commission is composed of attorneys and public members.[9][10] Although the governor is not bound to these recommendations, the Commission on Judicial Appointments can approve or veto the appointment by majority vote.[11]
Following confirmation from the Commission on Judicial Appointments, the appointed justice is sworn into office and is subject to voter approval at the next gubernatorial election. The appointed justice must be confirmed by voters via a yes-no retention election. According to the California Constitution, the term for a supreme court justice is 12 years. If retained by the voters, the appointed justice remains in office but their term may depend on their predecessor's term. If the predecessor served part of their term before leaving office, the appointed justice would be retained to serve the remainder of their predecessor's term. This would be for either four or eight years. At the end of that term, the justice again must be confirmed by the voters at a gubernatorial election to begin a new 12-year term.[12][13] If a justice has been appointed to a seat where the predecessor's term would have expired the January 1 immediately after that November gubernatorial election, then the justice would serve a full 12-year term.[14]
Qualifications
To serve as a justice, a candidate must have practiced law for at least 10 years in California or served as a judge in California for at least 10 years.[14]
Chief justice
The court uses the same process described above for selecting its chief justice. The governor, with commission approval, appoints a chief justice for a full 12-year term.[15]
Vacancies
Vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment. Appointed judges are required to participate in yes-no retention elections occurring at the time of the next gubernatorial race, which is held every four years.[14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
|
Officeholder California Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbio - ↑ California Courts, "Associate Justice Carol A. Corrigan," accessed February 1, 2019
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote, November 3, 1992 General Election," accessed April 30, 2015
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ The State Bar of California, "Background," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ The State Bar of California, "Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ California Legislative Information, "Article VI Judicial Sec. 16.," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Justices of the Supreme Court," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 California Courts, "Judicial Selection: How California Chooses Its Judges and Justices," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ Justia, "Supreme Court of California Decisions," accessed March 27, 2023
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California
State courts:
California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts
State resources:
Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California
