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California Today

California Today: ‘Why Is California Not Polarized?’ Ask the State’s Chief Justice

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The California Supreme Court chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye.Credit...Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

After voting overwhelmingly Democratic in the midterm elections, California is about to get even more blue. Democrats control the executive branch, have a huge majority in the Legislature and for the first time in decades will have a numerical edge on the state’s Supreme Court: The expected confirmation this month of Joshua Groban, an adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown, will result in a court of four Democratic-appointed justices and three Republican-appointed ones.

If it were Washington, pundits would declare a political hat trick. The fact that it’s not Washington was made clear on Tuesday in the annual state-of-the-judiciary briefing held by Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye.

The chief justice is a Republican who was appointed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet she described the 600 court appointments that Governor Brown has made during his two terms as “fantastic.” She praised the state Supreme Court’s consensus-based approach and said she doubted that the court would be much different with a majority of Democratic-appointed justices.

“I think all of us value the fact that there can be no resolution without courtesy and civility and humor,” she said.

In her remarks, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, 59, spoke about a new generation of judges who embodied what she described as California values — judges who cared about homelessness, climate change and “what are we going to do about guns.”

She defined the California ethos as “underdog centric” and criticized the federal immigration authorities for making arrests in courthouses. It almost sounded like a Gavin Newsom stump speech.

David A. Carrillo, executive director of the California Constitution Center at Berkeley Law, said he was not surprised at the chief justice’s comments and her emphasis on consensus. In a study due to be published this month, Dr. Carrillo analyzed 302 opinions by the state Supreme Court over the past three years and found only one in which the justices appointed by Mr. Brown voted as a distinct bloc against the other justices.

“People ask this question all the time, ‘Why is California not polarized?’ We are divided as a nation but not so much as a state,” Dr. Carrillo said. “I think it’s particularly telling that we have a state high court that reflects that consensus.”

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

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Nancy Pelosi, the leader of House Democrats, and President Trump during their meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• “It’s like a manhood thing with him — as if manhood can be associated with him. This wall thing.” Representative Nancy Pelosi had some choice words for President Trump after a televised Oval Office fight over a looming government shutdown. [The New York Times]

• Here are five takeaways from that meeting. [The New York Times]

• A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy is being charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed man at a Norwalk Gas station in 2016. It’s the first time since 2000 that a law enforcement officer in L.A. County has been prosecuted for an on-duty shooting. [The Los Angeles Times]

• On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee had the chance to question one of the most powerful people on the planet: Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai. Many were not impressed by the performance by lawmakers. [Wired]

• Camp Fire victims sued Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in a pair of suits filed this week alleging that the utility misled the public about its efforts to maintain its equipment in a way that helps prevent wildfires. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• The police found a trove of images of nude women in the storage unit of a former University of Southern California gynecologist who was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients during three decades. [The Los Angeles Times]

• The Lakers owner Jerry Buss introduced dancers to transform games into “showtime.” Decades later, women who have danced for the N.B.A., a pro sports league known as one with more progressive politics, say they’ve been subjected to body-shaming and meager pay. [Yahoo Lifestyle]

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The N.F.L. commissioner, Roger Goodell, at the Oakland Coliseum in 2012.Credit...Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Oakland filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the Raiders and the N.F.L. on Tuesday. City leaders hope the move could net millions in damages and pay off debt remaining from renovations at the Coliseum. It could also send the Raiders packing early for Las Vegas. [The East Bay Times]

• Los Angeles County supervisors approved the Centennial project at Tejon Ranch, clearing the way for a massive, hotly contested master-planned community. [The Los Angeles Times]

• A Stanford University student wrote about how he used to be a K-pop skeptic for The Edit, the Times’s newsletter featuring the perspective of college students and recent grads. [The New York Times]

• Here’s a list of the 10 best Bay Area albums of this year. [KQED]

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The 90th Academy Awards ceremony in MarchCredit...Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times

Kevin Hart stepped down days after being announced as host of the 2019 Academy Awards over criticism of past homophobic comments.

Which means that right now, we still don’t know who’s hosting the Oscars.

Los Angeles Magazine noted that the telecast has never had a Latino or Asian host, despite the fact that the two groups have the highest moviegoing rates in the country. They offered some suggestions to remedy that. One was the comedian Ali Wong, whom I would happily watch host five hours of QVC.

But what about you? If you got to pick an Oscars host from an underrepresented group — and setting aside the fact that it may be “the least wanted job in town” — who would it be? And why? Tell us at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

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