SAN FRANCISCO — The only Democratic appointee and Latino on the California Supreme Court said Thursday he's stepping down next month, giving Gov. Jerry Brown an early opportunity to shape the state's high court.
Justice Carlos Moreno, 62, submitted his resignation to Brown on Wednesday, according to court spokeswoman Lynn Holton. His last day will be Feb. 28.
Moreno was named to the state Supreme Court in 2001 by then-Gov. Gray Davis and was on President Barack Obama's short list for a U.S. Supreme Court opening in 2009 that was ultimately filled by Elena Kagan.
In a brief statement, Moreno said he planned on returning to the private sector and was weighing his options, including private practice or alternative dispute resolution.
"It has been a truly unique honor and privilege to have served the people of California as a judge for over 24 years and, together with my great colleagues on the court, to have played a modest role in shaping California jurisprudence," Moreno said in the statement.
Gov. Brown thanked the departing justice for his service and "intends to fill Justice Moreno's seat with a candidate who is equally knowledgeable, thoughtful and judicious," said governor's spokesman Evan Westrup.
Moreno's resignation, which surprised some legal observers, gives Brown his first chance to fill a seat on the state Supreme Court since his last term as governor more than 25 years ago.
"It's an opportunity for him to make a very important pick very quickly for his administration," said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings School of Law in San Francisco. "This is going to force him very quickly to develop his judicial selection process."
Moreno is among the more liberal members of the seven-justice California Supreme Court. He was the only justice who voted to block enforcement of California's ban on same-sex marriage in 2009, and last year he was the lone dissenting vote in a ruling that upheld the state's affirmative action ban.
Gerald Uelman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, said he expects Brown to appoint a successor who will likely join the panel's liberal wing, so "it won't affect the ultimate balance of the court."
Brown will likely choose a Hispanic or African American to fill the open seat since there will not be a member of either group after Moreno steps down, Uelman said.
Brown also is likely to proceed cautiously with the appointment after three justices he appointed during his first tenure as governor — Cruz Reynoso, Joseph Grodin and former Chief Justice Rose Bird — were voted out of their jobs in 1986 following public outrage over their opposition to the death penalty, Uelman said.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Moreno grew up in East Los Angeles before attending Yale University and Stanford Law School. He started his legal career as a deputy city attorney in Los Angeles then joined a commercial litigation practice.
Moreno, who is married with three children, began his judicial career in 1986 as a municipal court judge in Compton and later served as a felony trial judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He served as a federal judge in Los Angeles for three years before being appointed to the state Supreme Court.