Alameda judge confirmed to court of appeal

Alameda judge confirmed to appeals court

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victor A. Rodriguez was confirmed to the 1st District Court of Appeal following a confirmation hearing Wednesday.

The Commission on Judicial Appointments approved Rodriguez's appointment unanimously after hearing praise for him by two state Supreme Court justices for whom he worked as a staff attorney and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Nixon.

State Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, for whom Rodriguez worked as supervising staff attorney from 2015 to 2018, hailed the judge's managerial skills, intellect, and work on language access initiatives.

"In my experience, he was remarkable at reading the room," Cuellar said. "He's going to draw people out."

Stella Ngai, chair of the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, told the commission that Rodriguez was "qualified" for the appellate bench.

Rodriguez, who was sworn into office by Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye after he was confirmed, thanked Gov. Gavin Newsom and Judicial Appointments Secretary Luis Cespedes for their commitment to an inclusive judiciary.

His appointment boosts the number of Hispanic justices on the state appellate courts to eight, compared to California's population, which is nearly 40% Latino.

Citing predecessors on the bench, including former state Supreme Court Justice Carlos R. Moreno, for whom he also worked as a staff attorney, Rodriguez said: "It is humbling to stand on the shoulders of these jurists but also recognize how much more needs to be done."

Rodriguez's parents worked two jobs, and as a young child, he helped them clean a Livermore courthouse at night.

He thanked them, and his sister, for cultivating qualities of "hard work, humility, empathy, listening and kindness." And Rodriguez recalled arriving early on his first day as a judge and chatting with a janitor.

"That feeling of coming full circle was special," he said.

Nixon praised Rodriguez's work on a new domestic violence department that was getting started just as the new judge had taken the bench.

Rodriguez pressed for the job even before he had completed the school for new judges. "He was sending emails from his vacation in Hawaii," Nixon said.

Nixon said Rodriguez did an outstanding job once he started.

On the bench, Nixon added, Rodriguez "was always calm. He was always considerate. And he was always making considered decisions."

State Supreme Court Justice Carol A. Corrigan, for whom Rodriguez also worked as a staff attorney, praised him for being "unfailingly collegial."

"Victor is first and foremost committed to getting it right," she said.

Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Rob Bonta and 1st District Court of Appeal Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline voted to confirm Rodriguez. He will join the San Francisco court's Division 3, replacing Justice Teri L. Jackson, who recently was elevated to be presiding justice of the appellate court's Division 5.

A 2003 graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law, Rodriguez was a fellow at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund before he was hired by the state Supreme Court.