Betty Dawson
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Betty L. Dawson is a judge on the Fifth District of the California Courts of Appeal. Her appointment was confirmed on September 26, 2003 and she was approved by voters on November 14, 2006.[1][2]
Biography
Betty Dawson was born in Minnesota, but has lived in California most of her life. For her undergraduate studies, she attended City College of San Francisco, the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico, and San Francisco State University. In 1978, she received her law degree (J.D.) from Hastings College of Law. She was then a teaching fellow at Stanford Law School for a year. She is currently married with two adult daughters.[1]
Legal career
Betty Dawson began her legal career as a research attorney for the California First District Court of Appeal. She moved to Merced in 1980 and practiced law with her husband until 1992. She then worked as a traffic referee and later a court commissioner for the Merced County Municipal Court. In 2000, she was appointed to the Merced County Superior Court. She became a Presiding Judge in 2002 and served in this position until her appointment to the Court of Appeals.[1]
Notable rulings
Sunshine Law
In 2009, the Sacramento Valley Mirror won a lawsuit seeking information about how much the Superior Court of Glenn County spent to remodel judge’s chambers. Judge Dawson wrote the ruling.
The Glenn County Court's attorney argued that the court wasn’t compelled to release information on how it spent the public’s money, but Dawson ruled the it the "spirit of the California Public Records Act" must be met. The attorney for the newspaper requesting the records said: "I never doubted this outcome. It is simply absurd to believe that any governmental agency, even a court, can hide how they spend public money, and yet that is exactly what the court’s attorney was arguing". [3]
External links
References
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