Chief justice appoints new members to Judicial Council

California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye appointed three new voting and four nonvoting members to the state's Judicial Council on Thursday.

The council is the policymaking body for state courts.

"Council is charged with the duty of seeing that justice is properly administered statewide," Cantil-Sakauye said in a statement. "Members don't represent any particular constituency, but rather they share their knowledge and diverse experiences to better our policies and rules for the good of the state judicial branch."

The new terms start Sept. 14, and among the voting appointees is Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon, who was previously a nonvoting advisory member.

He said ongoing issues he and his colleagues will address include funding for trial court operations and changes in bail and pretrial procedures.

Gordon, supervising judge for the criminal division in Los Angeles, said another aspect of the job is developing relationships with bench officers around the state, which makes courts richer.

"You get to see how other courts are dealing with issues, which I think allows us to share the great things we're doing in LA," he said. "It's a wonderful complementary relationship."

Additional voting appointees include Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Conklin and 5th District Court of Appeal Administrative Presiding Justice Brad Hill.

Nonvoting appointees include Mendocino County Superior Court Presiding Judge Ann Moorman; San Bernardino County Superior Court Executive Officer Nancy Eberhardt; San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Kyle Brodie and Sonoma County Superior Court Presiding Judge Gary Nadler.

The terms are for three years.

Butte County Superior Court Executive Officer Kimberly Flener was reappointed to her advisory position lasting through 2019.