LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A longtime Los Angeles attorney and senior adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown was sworn in today as a California Supreme Court justice. The state Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed the nomination of Joshua Groban, 45, to the state's highest court on Dec. 21, according to the governor's office. He was sworn in by Brown during a late-morning ceremony in Sacramento.
``I see the great work of the court, of taking the utter complexity and making it as clear, as simple and as just as humanly possible,'' Brown said.
``It's a high calling, and Josh, I think you're eminently equipped.''Groban has been a senior legal adviser to Brown since 2011, helping to oversee the appointment of about 600 judges throughout the state. He has also advised Brown on high-profile litigation and policy issues involving education, the judiciary, criminal justice, national security and constitutional interpretation, according to the governor's office.
Groban, a Democrat, served as legal counsel for Brown's gubernatorial campaign in 2010. He was an attorney at Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP from 2005 to 2010 and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP from 1999 to 2005.
He has been a lecturer in state appellate practice at UCLA's School of Law since 2015.``I am truly humbled by this nomination and, if confirmed, I look forward to working alongside the highest court's truly exemplary jurists,'' Groban said when he was nominated.
He will replace retiring Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar.