The Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley (“APABA-SV”) applauds Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s nomination of Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar for associate justice of the California Supreme Court. Cuéllar is slated to fill the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of the Honorable Marvin R. Baxter on January 4, 2015. If confirmed, Cuéllar’s name will appear on the November 4 ballot for voter approval of a 12 year term beginning January 2015. APABA-SV is confident that the California voters will support this amazing appointment.

Cuéllar is a longtime member and supporter of the APABA-SV community, and previously served as keynote speaker for APABA-SV’s 2011 Scholarship And Commitment To Diversity Awards Banquet. “We are thrilled with Tino Cuéllar’s nomination to the California Supreme Court,” said Brian Wong, President of APABA-SV. “His presence on the Supreme Court will be of immense benefit to the State of California. All Californians will benefit from his immense experience and legal scholarship.”

Cuéllar, 41, has been a Stanford Law School professor since 2001 and was appointed Stanley Morrison Professor of Law in 2012. Cuéllar has been director of Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies since 2013 and Professor of Political Science, by courtesy, at Stanford's School of Humanities and Sciences since 2010. He served as co-director of Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation from 2011 to 2013.

Representative of many Californians, Cuellar’s family emigrated from Mexico to the Imperial Valley of California when Cuellar was 14. After Graduating from Calexico High School, Cuéllar went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College, a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in political science from Stanford University.

Cuéllar served as special assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council in 2009 and 2010 and was co-chair of the Obama-Biden Transition's Immigration Policy Working Group in 2008 and 2009. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2000 to 2001 and as senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1997 to 1999.

APABA-SV commends Governor Brown for his nomination of Cuéllar to the California Supreme Court, and looks forward to Cuéllar’s confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.