2024 California Supreme Court preveiw

2024 brings us the second year of service by California's new Chief Justice

On January 2, 2023, Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero was sworn in as the 29th Chief Justice of California.  She followed former Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who was regarded as a strong leader who brought stability and consistency to the administration of justice.  2024 will therefore be Chief Justice Guerrero's second year of service.

Predictions for 2024

If we were to hazard a prediction as to the ideology and direction of the Court in 2024, we would predict that its stability and consistency would continue.  In fact, there is only one remaining Republican appointee, Justice Corrigan, who was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005.

More to the point, given the fact that Mr.  Schwarzenegger hardly governed as a political conservative, it appears the court is entirely moderate to left of center in terms of ideology.  There have been no notable four to three decisions in recent memory and the Court has become known for its unanimous seven to zero decisions. 

Key rulings likely to involve the scope of protections for employees

In 2024 the Supreme Court has already issued an opinion regarding whether a trial court may dismiss a Private Attorney General (PAGA) claim related to meal and rest breaks on "manageability" grounds. (Estrada v. California Commerce Club).  We will discuss Estrada in a future post, but it is worth noting this is not the only case relating to employment pending before the Supreme Court and, indeed, other cases with employment law issues may be granted review.  

The question then becomes:  will counsel for employees continue their recent success?  We will see, and, in the meantime, note that briefs of cases that have or will soon be argued are available here. 

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