The last California Supreme Court justice nominated to the nation's highest court was Stephen Johnson Field, a former Marysville alcalde who wore a coat designed for firing pistols from the pockets, helped strike down the first peacetime income tax out of fear of socialism, and served well into his senility just to break a record. There's nevertheless reason to hope for a historical repeat a century and a half later — not with respect to Field's idiosyncratic approach so much as his unusual route to the court.
Like the other two judges on President Joe Biden's reported short list to succeed Stephen Breyer, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger would bring exceptional qualifications to the U.S. Supreme Court and correct its historical exclusion of African American women. But Kruger's reputation for forging consensus among ideologically disparate judges and foregrounding the courts' institutional credibility makes her a standout in an elite field. So does her capacity to preserve a semblance of geographical balance on a court that leans heavily eastward.
Recruited to the California Supreme Court by then-Gov. Jerry Brown as part of an effort to restore its stature and liberalism, the Los Angeles area native sailed through the confirmation process despite some carping about a career spent mostly on the East Coast as a federal attorney. She has since established a reputation as Brown's least predictable nominee, a liberal who leans toward incremental rather than activist jurisprudence and regularly finds common ground with more conservative colleagues.
