Court Opinion

ID: 9545832
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:20:14.643869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:37.330787
License: Public Domain

KAUFMAN, J.
I concur in the conclusion and reasoning of the opinion by Justice Eagleson. The constitutional and statutory history there set forth demonstrates that article VI, section 4, of the California Constitution confers no right upon the county clerk to perform any of the duties of superior court clerk assigned to another officer by statute, or by a superior court pursuant to statute.
That conclusion is reinforced by the fact that ever since the revision in 1970 of article XI, the article which deals with local government, the county clerk has not been specified as an officer for which the Legislature or the county’s governing body must provide. (See art. XI, §§ 1, subd. (b), & 4, subd. (c).) Indeed, apart from the reference in article VI, section 4, to the county clerk as ex officio clerk of the superior court, I see no constitutional obstacle to the entire elimination of any county clerk from a county government. That reference in article VI, the article which pertains to the judicial branch, should not be read as implicitly augmenting the structure of county government prescribed in article XI by requiring the appointment or elec*181tion of a county clerk in each county. Instead, the constitutional provisions are best harmonized by interpreting article VI, section 4, to mean that if there is a county clerk, and if there are duties pertaining to the superior court which are required by statute to be performed by the county clerk or by the clerk of the superior court, the county clerk must perform them to the extent, but only to the extent, that those duties are not assigned to another officer by a statute, or by a court pursuant to statute.