California's Supreme Court justices voiced skepticism Thursday about a challenge to Gov. Jerry Brown's criminal justice initiative. Justices heard oral arguments in a case brought by the California District Attorneys Association.
The case is not a challenge to the substance of Brown's initiative, aimed at reducing the state's prison population, but rather to the way in which proponents attempted to speed up the process of getting the measure on the November ballot. A loss in the case would almost certainly end hopes for Brown to get the measure before voters this year.
Brown's measure, introduced in January, is aimed at reducing the state prison population by giving prisoners a chance for earlier parole and allowing judges, instead of prosecutors, to decide whether a minor should be tried as an adult. In order to expedite the measure's progress toward the November ballot, proponents placed their text inside of an already submitted initiative focused on juvenile justice.
"An initiative was filed that did change substantive law, in regard to a specific subject matter area," said Thomas Hiltachk, a lawyer for the California District Attorneys Association. "That was then bait and switch, gut and amend, hide the pea, whatever you want to call it, and that initiative proposes a result completely different from the original filing."