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Vol. 50 • No. 46 • November 12-18, 2020
Celebrations over, Biden releases plan to curb COVID cases by Liz Highleyman Courtesy Commission on Judicial Appointments
Justice Martin Jenkins was unanimously confirmed to the California Supreme Court November 10.
1st out justice joins Califoria Supreme Court by Matthew S. Bajko
W
ith his confirmation Tuesday, Justice Martin Jenkins is the first out LGBTQ person serving on the California Supreme Court. The gay Oakland resident is also the third Black man to serve on the state’s highest court. All three West Coast states now have out justices on their state supreme courts. Jenkins is the sixth out person serving on a state’s highest court, according to a database compiled by the LGBTQ Victory Fund. “I think I have a perspective on cases and controversies that the high court deals with on a daily basis,” said Jenkins, who received an evaluation of “exceptionally well qualified” to serve on the court. “You can have confidence of the buck stopping with me.” He told the court it took him four days to think about Newsom’s offer to appoint him to the supreme court seat and agree to his “call of service” to become a judge again. As a man of faith, said Jenkins, he saw the appointment as “a calling” that he could not refuse. “It is not about me elevating myself to some lofty perch,” said Jenkins. “I thought I could do good work, quality work, and had a voice that could add to this discussion. Not better but different.” The Commission on Judicial Appointments unanimously confirmed the 66-year-old Jenkins to the bench, as expected, after receiving testimony about his qualifications during the November 10 hearing. The oversight body consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and senior Presiding Justice of the state Court of Appeal J. Anthony Kline. Jenkins was known as “the James Brown of the judiciary,” testified retired federal justice Thelton Eugene Henderson, who served alongside him as the senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “The singer James Brown was known as the world’s hardest working man in show business. Marty we felt was not the hardest working man in the judiciary but certainly the hardest working man on our court.” Kline called Jenkins “an impressive person” and an “extremely eloquent man” whose “voice is going to be needed” as the judiciary becomes even more politicized in today’s age of highly partisan politics. And Becerra joked he was waiting for Jenkins to say, “I feel good” about his appointment. In October, Governor Gavin Newsom had appointed Jenkins, his judicial appointments secretary since 2019, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Ming W. Chin this summer. Jenkins is the first African American man to serve on the court in nearly three decades. LGBTQ leaders had hailed Newsom’s decision to appoint an out justice to the bench and were elated with Jenkins’ confirmation. For years LGBTQ legal groups have sought to see an out person serving on the state’s highest bench, and earlier this year LGBTQ lawmakers had also urged Newsom to name an LGBTQ person to succeed Chin. Despite rumors of there being a closeted jurist on the Supreme Court of California, there has never been an out LGBTQ person serving on it, as the Bay Area Reporter has noted for years in stoSee page 8 >>
W
hile street parties celebrating President-elect Joe Biden’s win have ended and Donald Trump’s refusing to concede the November 3 election, the incoming team has hit the ground running, releasing a plan to combat the nation’s burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, November 9, the transition team for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced the members of its COVID-19 task force, which will include three Bay Area experts. The same day, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that a coronavirus vaccine front-runner appears more effective than expected. During brief remarks from Wilmington, Delaware, Biden implored all Americans to wear face coverings. COVID infections have surged in recent weeks, with the country averaging 100,000 cases a day. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed on Tuesday announced a rollback of some activities, including indoor dining, due to a spike in local cases. Despite not taking office until January 20, Biden is using his bully pulpit during the transition to address the health crisis and the eco-
Rick Gerharter
People gathered on Castro Street November 7 to celebrate the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the country’s incoming president and vice president.
nomic fallout from it. “President-elect Biden believes that the federal government must act swiftly and aggressively to help protect and support our families, small businesses, first responders, and caregivers essential to help us face this challenge, those
who are most vulnerable to health and economic impacts, and our broader communities – not to blame others or bail out corporations,” according to the plan, available at www.buildbackbetter.com. See page 8 >>
Uber-backed Prop 22 passes; rent control loses again by John Ferrannini
T
he passage of Proposition 22, which grants exemptions to Uber, Lyft, and other app-based companies from California’s gig worker law, dealt a crushing blow to workers’ rights, opponents said, and a win that advocates said may soon go nationwide. The measure, which passed with 58.4% of the vote, according to unofficial returns, was the app-based services’ answer to the controversial AB 5, the gig-worker bill that was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom last year. AB 5 changed the status of app-based drivers, among other workers, from independent contractors to employees. Uber and Lyft had been fighting the law in court and secured signatures to put Prop 22 on the ballot. Cherri Murphy, a Lyft driver and independent social justice minister in the East Bay, is a Black queer woman who is a lead organizer with Gig Workers Rising, a leading advocacy organization for labor protections for gig workers. She said that Prop 22’s success was a loss for economic justice. “We were in for a fight up and down the ballot regarding racial and economic justice, including Prop 22,” Murphy said. “It gutted wage and labor protections and created a special law for Lyft, DoorDash, and Uber. It guts workers’ rights to collective bargaining, and to file for unemployment in the middle of a pandemic and a recession.” Murphy believes many Californians voted for the measure because of the over $200 million the companies spent on advertising during the campaign. “This ballot measure was deceptive in its campaigning,” Murphy said. “Two hundred million dollars was spent tricking voters into thinking this was a pro-worker campaign, but it exempts any ordinances created for workers to take sick time off in the middle of a pandemic.” Anthony Foxx, chief policy officer at Lyft and former U.S. secretary of transportation under former President Barack Obama, was among several who has expressed a desire to bring Prop
Courtesy AP
Uber and Lyft spent over $200 million for Yes on Proposition 22.
22 to other states now that it passed in progressive California. “Ideally, now that this issue has been resolved in California we can have a broader conversation about how to replicate something like Prop 22,” Foxx told the Hill last week. Responding to that prospect, Murphy said all she can do is keep fighting. “Organizing will continue,” Murphy said. “I’m so proud to stand beside other app-based workers and unions – everyone who stood up to make this clear.” In a statement on November 10, Uber spokesperson Davis White praised the passage of the measure. “California voters agreed that instead of eliminating independent work, we should make it better,” White stated. “Soon, drivers in California will be guaranteed a minimum earnings standard of 120% of minimum wage and will gain access to important new benefits like health care, accident insurance, and more.” The measure does guarantee 120% of the local minimum wage for the time drivers are actively engaged in trips. While it does not mandate or provide health insurance, it requires for some drivers a stipend they can use to cover some health care costs.
Housing
Two of the three housing-related propositions lost in last week’s election. Proposition 15, known as the “split roll” fix, would have repealed 1978 commercial property tax caps for properties worth over $3 million, generating billions of dollars in tax revenue for schools and local governments. But it failed, 51.7%-48.3%, according to preliminary results. Though it would not have applied to residential property, opponents portrayed it as a stepping-stone to repealing 1978’s Prop 13, often called the third rail of California politics. Proponents touted increased money it would have provided the state’s education system. Proposition 21 was resoundingly rejected, with 59.6% voting no, according to preliminary results. Similar to 2018’s Prop 10, Prop 21 would have expanded local government’s ability to enact rent control laws, ending statewide limits on such ordinances that were imposed by the Costa-Hawkins Act in 1994. San Francisco was the only California county where Prop 21 passed, according to election returns. See page 8 >>