Carol Ann Corrigan (born August 16, 1948) is an associate justice of the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

. She is a former prosecutor.

Background

Corrigan, the daughter of a newspaperman and a homemaker, grew up in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

city of

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

. She graduated from Saint Mary's High School in Stockton, and attended the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, then women-only, Holy Names College in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, graduating in 1970. After a brief stint in a graduate program in psychology, Corrigan enrolled at the

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (a ...

, where she served as Notes and Comments Editor of the ''

Hastings Law Journal The ''UC Law Journal'' is the oldest law journal at the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly University of California, Hastings College of the Law). It began in 1949 in San Francisco, California as the ''Hastings ...

''. She received her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree in 1975 and was admitted to the California bar the same year. Corrigan worked as a

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

from 1975, and as a senior prosecutor from 1985 until 1987 when she was appointed to the county's

Municipal Court A city court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cas ...

. In 1991 she became a Judge of the

Alameda County Superior Court The Alameda County Superior Court, officially the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Alameda County as established by Article VI of the Constitution of California. It functions ...

, the state's principal trial court there, where she was affectionately known as

Big Bird Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skate, ice skate, dance, swim, sing, write poetry, d ...

. In 1994, Governor

Pete Wilson Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Wilson previously served as a United S ...

appointed her as an associate justice in the

California Court of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.

, 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 The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, th ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

nominated her to the Supreme Court of California to replace Justice

Janice Rogers Brown Janice Rogers Brown (born May 11, 1949) is an American jurist. She served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2006 to 2017 and before that, Associate Justice of the Cal ...

. Corrigan was confirmed in this position January 4, 2006. Corrigan's notable opinions include a March 2, 2017, ruling in ''City of San Jose v. Superior Court'', that emails and text messages on personal devices of government employees are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act. In 2012, she dissented in a case concerning the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

for claims of abuse by a priest. In 2011, she authored the majority opinion in ''

Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach ''Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach'' is a California Supreme Court case, decided by a full majority on July 14, 2011, in which the plaintiffs challenged the City of Manhattan Beach's ordinance banning single-use plastic b ...

'', in which the court upheld a city ordinance banning plastic bags, reversing the appellate court. In 2008, she wrote a dissent in the same-sex marriage case, ''

In re Marriage Cases ''In re Marriage Cases'', 43 Cal. 4th 757 (Cal. 2008) was a California Supreme Court case where the court held that laws treating classes of persons differently based on sexual orientation should be subject to strict judicial scrutiny, and tha ...

'', 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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

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.

References

Video

External links

Carol A. Corrigan
California State Courts.
Carol A. Corrigan
California Court of Appeal, First District.
Past & Present Justices
California State Courts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Corrigan, Carol 1948 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges American women lawyers District attorneys in California Holy Names University alumni Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Justices of the Supreme Court of California People from Stockton, California Superior court judges in the United States University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni Women in California politics St. Mary's High School (Stockton, California) alumni

Background

California Supreme Court

See also

References

Video

External links