Carol Corrigan Explained

Office:Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
Appointer:Arnold Schwarzenegger
Term Start:January 4, 2006
Predecessor:Janice Rogers Brown
Birth Name:Carol Ann Corrigan
Birth Date:16 August 1948
Birth Place:Stockton, California, U.S.
Party:Republican[1]
Education:Holy Names College (BA)
University of California, Hastings (JD)

Carol Ann Corrigan (born August 16, 1948) is an associate justice of the California Supreme Court. She is a former prosecutor.

Background

Corrigan, the daughter of a newspaperman and a homemaker, grew up in the San Joaquin Valley city of Stockton, California. She graduated from Saint Mary's High School in Stockton, and attended the Catholic, then women-only, Holy Names College in Oakland, graduating in 1970.[2] After a brief stint in a graduate program in psychology, Corrigan enrolled at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she served as Notes and Comments Editor of the Hastings Law Journal.[3] She received her Juris Doctor degree in 1975 and was admitted to the California bar the same year.[4]

Corrigan worked as a prosecutor in Alameda County, California from 1975, and as a senior prosecutor from 1985 until 1987 when she was appointed to the county's Municipal Court. In 1991 she became a Judge of the Alameda County Superior Court, the state's principal trial court there, where she was affectionately known as Big Bird. In 1994, Governor Pete Wilson appointed her as an associate justice in the California Court of Appeal, First District. She was elected to a term later in 1994, and re-elected in 1998. There, she served on a commission that overhauled the state's court rules.

Corrigan has resided in and around Oakland for most of her adult life.

California Supreme Court

On December 9, 2005, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated her to the Supreme Court of California to replace Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Corrigan was confirmed in this position January 4, 2006.[5]

Corrigan's notable opinions include a March 2, 2017, ruling in City of San Jose v. Superior Court,[6] that emails and text messages on personal devices of government employees are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act.[7] [8] In 2012, she dissented in a case concerning the statute of limitations for claims of abuse by a priest.[9] [10] [11] In 2011, she authored the majority opinion in Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach, in which the court upheld a city ordinance banning plastic bags, reversing the appellate court.[12] In 2008, she wrote a dissent in the same-sex marriage case, In re Marriage Cases, which held that the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution mandated that the state allow same-sex marriages.

In 2022, Corrigan voted to uphold a lower-court order that forced UC Berkeley to cut its enrollment numbers after a group of Berkeley residents sued the university. The Berkeley residents claimed that UC Berkeley was violating the California Environmental Quality Act by expanding its enrollment numbers.[13]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dolan . Maura . Gov. Names Moderate to High Court . January 5, 2018. Los Angeles Times. December 10, 2005.
  2. Web site: Alumni Hall of Fame: Carol Corrigan. Holy Names University. August 23, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20180909222026/https://www.hnu.edu/alumni-hall-fame/corrigan-carol. September 9, 2018. dead.
  3. News: Carol Corrigan '75: Steward of the Law. October 8, 2017. UC Hastings Law School Magazine. September 18, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20171008231636/http://www.uchastings.edu/news/articles/2012/09/corrigan-steward.php. October 8, 2017. dead.
  4. Web site: Previous Commencement Speakers. University of California, Hastings College of the Law. August 23, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170824005624/http://www.uchastings.edu/student-life/student-services/commencement/previous/index.php. August 24, 2017. dead.
  5. News: Egelko. Bob. Why you should care about who will sit on California's Supreme Court. August 20, 2017. San Francisco Chronicle. July 28, 2017.
  6. http://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2017/s218066.html City of San Jose v. Superior Court
  7. News: Lee. Bobby. CA Supreme Court rules private emails, text messages of public officials can be public records. August 23, 2017. Daily Californian. March 6, 2017.
  8. News: Giwargis. Ramona. San Jose: Government emails on personal devices are public record, state's top court decides. August 23, 2017. Mercury News. March 3, 2017.
  9. http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/quarry-v-doe-i-34062 Quarry v. Doe I
  10. News: Clark. Monica. California Supreme Court to which ultimately kept in place a statute of limitations in abuse cases. October 8, 2017. National Catholic Reporter. January 17, 2012.
  11. News: Leff. Lisa. Court upholds time limit for clergy abuse claims. October 8, 2017. San Diego Tribune. Associated Press. March 29, 2012.
  12. News: Shah. Paras. Council to send letter urging removal of pro plastic bag language in state curriculum . August 23, 2017. Daily Californian. September 21, 2011.
  13. Web site: Asimov . Nanette . Egelko . Bob . 2022-03-03 . UC Berkeley must withhold thousands of acceptance letters after state Supreme Court ruling . 2022-03-06 . San Francisco Chronicle . en-US.