This was probably predictable, but I didn't see it: Is Brown's seat a "black seat" to be filled by a person of appropriate color? AP's David Kravets seems to think so, and lists several possible African-American candidates for the CA Supreme Court:
Among the leading contenders, according to court watchers, is Vance Raye, a black member of the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento who has been a friend of Brown's for nearly three decades.One would at least hope for a Republican. Does Eloise Anderson have a law degree? Sadly not.
Raye, a Republican, voted in April to uphold California's domestic partner law, which grants gays and lesbians virtually the same rights as California married couples....
Other potential black candidates include U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong, a Republican sitting in Oakland; Candace Cooper, a Democrat on the Los Angeles-based 2nd District Court of Appeal and U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall, a Democrat sitting in Los Angeles.